Checking out (of) location-based social networking
After reading some glowing reviews, a group of friends walk into a new restaurant. Prior to being seated, the first thing they do is pull out their Smartphones and “check-in” their location. 5 minutes later, they’re seated and the menus arrive. Not a word is exchanged but the Smartphones are in action again (checking recommendations on what’s good on the menu). I’m not even going to bother getting into all the updates and photo taking that follows during the meal. I hope you get the picture. Do you see anything wrong with it? Depending on whether you’re a social media bee that’s perpetually buzzing (and loves the addition of geo-location, check-ins and mayorships to the mix) or whether you’re not so eager to broadcast your daily whereabouts, your answer may range from “nothing” to “everything”. I personally am intrigued by the location-based social networking trend, but not impressed enough. In fact, I’ve thought long and hard about the present and future data capabilities of location-based social networks, as well as the privacy implications and potential benefits of social media in general. I do understand why people use and love these services, but I just see no value in it for me yet.
I’m obviously no Luddite. I work for an Internet company, I blog, use Twitter, Facebook, etc. and I love my iPhone (probably a little too much). But I’m also very conscious of the big role these services and devices like the iPhone are beginning to play in my daily life. It’s getting to the point where it sometimes feels like my iPhone is a portable life support system that’s there to feed my insatiable need for real-time information. The more apps I use, the more active I get on social networks, the more irresistible is the urge to pull out my iPhone and check in on my digital life and the ever-expanding ocean of information on the Internet (while checking out of my real world surroundings). Currently, the only saving grace is I can still choose where to draw the line between my daily life and my online participation — I can disconnect or “slow down”. The problem with location-based social networking is that disconnecting is not really a viable option when the very purpose of these services is to blur erase the lines between our offline and online lives.
Another problem with location-based social networking is that all the apparent benefits of a data-driven life could easily turn into a burden, where instead of ever living in the moment, we’re constantly attempting to construct the perfect moment or busy “planning serendipity”. As Aldus Huxley put it so well “Even the best cookery book is no substitute for a bad dinner”. Now Huxley was obviously not talking about location-based social networks and their impact on our perception, but he was right about the fact that we tend to put too much weight on symbols, information and knowledge to the point where we start to believe they are somehow more real than what they stand for. Huxley wasn’t the only one who was concerned about the problem of being overtly influenced by words, knowledge and concepts already established. Jiddu Krishnamurti (a close friend of Huxley) said “Freedom is found in the choiceless awareness of our daily existence and activity”. Krishnamurti’s core philosophy was all about liberating the mind from the burdens of memory and allowing it to appreciate spontaneously of the present moment. We’re quickly moving further away from this concept of freedom because not only do we have complete access to our own memories via the Internet and geo-location based services, but we can also tap into the collective memory and knowledge of our friends and social networks. This is obviously a double-edged sword, because the more you know about the everyone’s thoughts, experiences and whereabouts, the more you are influenced to act based on the information rather than follow your instincts.
This is not only about location-based social networks. Unfortunately, we’re marching towards a world where absolute dependence on data will be commonplace and eventually, we will come to accept that there won’t be a clear separation between the “real” world and the virtual universe of information. The price we will pay is having to manage the impact of knowledge becoming an unnecessary weight on our experiences.
It’s probably a futile effort, but I’d rather stick with spontaneity, live in every moment, experience real coincidences and actually discover new things. A discounted latte is somehow not a compelling enough incentive for me to give that up just yet.
