The Internet is for Porn

Dr. Cox on Scrubs (another one of those people who people look at me funny when I say is hot; a list that includes Steve Martin, Viggo Mortenson, and several fictional characters) once said that "if they took all the porn off the internet, there would only be one site left, and it would be called 'Bring Back the Porn!'"

And really, what are blogs and postsecret other than voyeuristic glimpses into other people's lives, something more intimate than most porn?

I am faced with a conundrum. I have realized that over the course of my internet exhibitionism I have become invested in the lives of people who do not know me. People I have never even met. I want to hear about their days, I like to know when things go well, and I crave their commentary on my life.

So when Santa writes about football, bouncing, and meeting a girl, my response is to give him the internet equivalent of a hug and tell him how wonderful that is, how great for him. And then I realize: one, Sean is not the kind of person I would feel comfortable hugging, because two, I don't know him at all. We've had class together. I've read a bunch of his work. We've even had a couple Cleveland nights together, meeting people and laughing for joy. If asked, I would say I don't know him at all, but I know him in the most essential elemental way someone can know another person, and he is a good man, and one I'm proud to know. But I don't know him.

The Internet is like this--we know all the important details, but if asked to make small talk we'd probably never be able to.

Is that a bad thing? Don't we need some people we don't know the dirty little everyday details about, like how N will get very angry if you clean her room for her? Don't we want some people that we know if we called on them for important things, they'd be there in a flash, but not to bother about the little things?