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20 things we can record now that we couldn't then
  1. What we’re doing, right now, in 140 characters or less
  2. What we’re listening to, right now
  3. What’s in front of us, in the form of a picture
  4. Audio, but who does that?
  5. What we overhear others saying
  6. What we’re eating
  7. What we’re spending money on
  8. A link we just saw
  9. Repost something someone else posted
  10. A photo we liked
  11. Thoughts on any possible topic
  12. Our relationship status
  13. What we just read, watched, listened to
  14. Where we are, exactly, right now
  15. Our weight
  16. Our goals
  17. How far we ran
  18. Video, but it’s not very easy
  19. Our mood
  20. A response to anything in the universe that moves us

So, we can record things.  The temptation to record and save for later turns into a temptation to be completely comprehensive in our records.  Record every meal, record every transaction, record every day of our lives.  And at the end, I presume we’ll have a record for all to see.

And this record for all to see, what will it be good for?  I think it will be voyeuristic and interesting to, perhaps, our children.  The first generation to have a very thorough glimpse into our lives before them.  If we become famous, it will be good fodder for our bibliographies, though the precision of our records might for the biographers to avoid embellishment and mystery that usually makes such accounts shine.

We can use the information to connect to one another… to be closer to people we like but might not have time to know every little detail about.  It’s efficient.  It’s easier to follow a thousand twitters than to have a thousand micro-conversations throughout the day.

But I don’t feel more connected.  It’s like we’re all watching each other on television, but can’t necessarily reach through the screen.