Seriously?

Have you been on LinkedIn lately?  This is a social site whose primary – if not only – purpose is to share connections.  And more often than not, you are locked out. DO NOT ENTER my connections.  My connections are private.  STAY OUT of my connections. I am collecting my connections until I have more connections than anyone else. Nanner Nanner Neener.

And how about a magazine web site that not only does not provide contact information for the editorial staff…  THEY DO NOT LIST THE EDITORIAL STAFF AT ALL!?  What the F is up with that? BUT WAIT, it gets better.  If you look them up on Burrelle’s (one of several incredibly useless media database services), they offer this contact information: [email protected]. Really? Thank you very much. That’s very helpful. I’ve just learned nothing. Mighty social of ya!

Why not just hide your magazine under a cloak of invisibility?

And how about companies that refuse to let you find their employees’ names, phone numbers or email addresses? DO NOT CONTACT US. We are too busy for you and do not want emails or phone calls. You can search our site until you are blue in the face, but you will not discover anything. LEAVE US ALONE.   But please buy our products and services.   Your business is important to us.

Seems to me – looking over the past decade – that the more access we have through technology – most notably the internet – the harder people and organizations work to hide.   

No one even reads, yet alone responds to email.  No one answers their phone or returns voice mails.  No one acknowledges real mail or faxes (does anyone use fax anymore?).  And God forbid that you show up at someone’s office unannounced; you’ll be tossed faster than a bean bag at a bachelor party. Even human interaction is being impacted; when’s the last time you had a conversation with someone (even your kids) that wasn’t interrupted by a text, email or phone call?

Of course, blogging and message boarding and twittering are popular, as are Facebook and MySpace. But really, who (other than teenagers) takes any of this seriously? Do you really know who is writing that blog, leaving that message or twittering you?  And while Facebook and MySpace go to the other extreme, do you really want or need to see photos of your cousin completely drunk and half naked? Do you want to know that your business associate supports the legalization of pot for non-medical use? Do you want to see your daughter’s tattoo that you didn’t know she had?

So, what’s my point?  

Clearly technology has made our lives better in so many ways.  I LOVE technology.  But equally clear is the fact that technology is making our lives worse in so many ways.

I have no answers, just observations. And at this moment, technology is really annoying me.