Where's the Mystery?

Remember when we didn’t really know anyone?  Like we had no way to know someone except to actually know them?  When we went on a date, we had no idea who the person was, other than what our friends might have told us or what we observed.  We met people at work, or in a bar, or in college, or at the grocery store.  We had a very limited idea of who and what they were, which was a good thing and a not so good thing.

In today’s world we know too fucking much about everybody.

Before you've even met someone, you can know where they went on vacation, what they ate Saturday night, who their ex is, what their house looks like, what they think about politics, what their dog wore for Halloween, and apparently what their “attachment style” is.

We've become both our own publicists and everybody else's private investigators.

Remember when you actually had to get to know someone?

Like you had to put the work in.  You went on a first date and for the most part, all first dates were blind.  In today’s world, there is almost nothing of an appropriate intimacy to discuss when you know everything superficial about the person before you have ever seen each other in person.

Can you remember the time you went out with someone without doing a complete internet background investigation first? I do, and I liked it better!

I think that being seen all the time makes it harder to actually be known.  We have all this information and I, for one, have no clue what the fuck I am supposed to do with it.  I mean, if I tell you all the information I found out about you before we go out, that makes me seem creepy and weird.  But as a woman in today’s world, not doing any research seems like a fool’s errand.  (I tend not to do the research...I am a risk taker to my core or a fool, you get to decide...)

I miss finding shit out about people the old-fashioned way: accidentally.

Have we confused access with intimacy?

I mean, I think, yeah, perhaps we kind of have...

And, of course, the irony of writing this post is that I am going to post it on a very public blog...

Again, still...