pic c/o Trems
Rob makes a good point on the primate roots of our newfound love for social media...
This latest passion - like so much else about us - has deep, deep roots in our primate past. Far from telling us about some new cyber being that we're becoming, it tells us much about where we come from.
Evolution has taken basic primate stock (with the key evolutionary strategy of sociability) and multiplied it many times over. Far from being the lonely or lonesome Ape, we are the Super Social Ape: like an Ape but more so...
Been thinking the same about social media and grooming myself for some time (Yes, J it's chapter 1).
How little of what we say in real (offline) life is content- or meaning-driven: most of what we say is phatic and "analogic": i.e. if it's 'about' anything, it's about the relationship between the speaker and other(s).
Rock on