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Jason Page On a break from social-networking,
Jason Page learns to enjoy the simpler things in life.
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RECENT ACTIVITY
You like this.
A few months ago, when
Facebook experienced its first
“hiccups” in Vietnam, I quickly
learned to live without the
social-networking service. I’ve
been made aware of the many
solutions available to me, but
for one reason or another, I
can’t seem to muster the motivation
to put any of them to
use. I’ve always been slow to
jump aboard the tech train—I
didn’t own a cell phone until
2004—and it would seem I’m
just as slow to get back on
board once I’ve fallen off.
But more recently, my selfimposed
exile from Facebook
has become something of a social
experiment. I’m experiencing
echoes of my days without
a mobile phone (How am I
supposed to reach you, man?). My
precipitous drop in Wall activity
has sometimes led to concern
(u ok? where u been?) and other
times paranoia (haven’t heard
from you. we all right?). In fact,
quitting Facebook has done
wonders for my self-esteem. I
have never felt so important.
I then did something even
more drastic than staying off
the Facebook grid. I started to
ask friends to email me. I’m not
talking about my work email.
I’m talking about my personal
email, that graveyard of
subscription news blasts about
a city I no longer live in. But
what was worse was asking
friends for their personal email
addresses. I came to expect the
dumbfounded wonder, as if
I had just requested that they
recite the Book of Kells in pig
Latin. Well that’s, uh, that’s the
darndest thing. It’s slipped my
mind. There’s an ampersand in
there somewhere.
It would seem that in an era
of hyper-connectivity, people
are beginning to phase the old
modes of communication out
of their lives. I however, am just
rediscovering them. And you
know what? I want more.
When I had cable and
Internet installed in my apartment,
the technician insisted
on putting a landline telephone
in, despite my insistence that I
didn’t need one. I haven’t had a
landline telephone in close to a
decade, but I think I’m going to
start using mine.
A friend who is roughly 15
years my senior once told me
that he used to talk to friends
for hours on his landline
phone, but he just couldn’t do
the same on a cell phone. And
he’s right. I picked up the receiver
the other day, and it felt
strangely alien. There’s a heft
to a receiver that a cell phone
just can’t stand up to. It’s like
placing a stylus on a record versus
thumbing through an iPod
playlist.
How far can I take it? I don’t
know. There has to be a line
that shouldn’t be crossed. I’m
guessing it falls somewhere
between using an abacus and
clipping a beeper to my belt.
I don’t want to be seen to be
striving for irony, here.
In reality, I know I’ll
eventually go back to socialnetworking.
That's the genius
of Facebook. It knows where
to find you. Among all the
junk email and subscriptions,
messages keep reaching me
from Facebook, tempting me
back. No, I didn’t know it was
Julie’s birthday in three days. Yes,
I would like to poke Aurora back.
At the end of the day, I would
rather flip up my laptop screen
and see a string of messages
and photos from friends than
open my inbox to adverts
from a store I never shop at
and Jetstar updates written in
Vietnamese. That’s just no way
to live.
this month in history
Oscar Wilde Arrested, Arafat Plane Crash, Molly Brown Entertains and more
April 1, 1984
Marvin Gaye Shooting
R&B singer Marvin Gaye is shot
and killed by his father during a
family dispute. Authorities drop
first-degree murder charges
against Marvin Sr. after they
discover that Gaye beat his
father just prior to the shooting.
Marvin Sr. pleads no contest to
voluntary manslaughter and is
sentenced to five years probation.
Gaye was known for the
popular hits, “How Sweet It Is
To Be Loved By You,” “I Heard
It Through the Grapevine,” and
“Mercy Mercy Me.” He dies one
day before his 45th birthday.
April 2, 1902
First U.S. Movie Theatre Opens
The Electric Theater, the first
dedicated U.S. movie theatre,
opens in a circus tent in Los
Angeles, California. A ticket
costs just 10 cents for a onehour
show. Movies became
increasingly popular after a 1901
vaudeville strike forced owners
to find alternate sources of entertainment
for their venues. The
strike also laid the groundwork
for the arrival of nickelodeons,
tiny storefront theatres that
played silent films accompanied
by a live pianist for 5 cents.
April 6, 1895
Oscar Wilde Arrest
Author Oscar Wilde is arrested
after losing a libel case against
the Marquess of Queensberry.
The royal publicly accused Wilde
of being homosexual after he
discovered that his son was Wilde’s
lover. Wilde, also a husband
and father, is sentenced to two
years of hard labour. He dies in
1900 of meningitis and although
unproven, some believe the
cause is syphilis. The Oxford
educated writer is best known
for the play, The Importance
of Being Ernest (1895) and the
novel, The Picture of Dorian
Gray (1890).
April 8, 1992
Arafat Plane Crash
Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO) chairman Yasser
Arafat’s plane crashes during a
sandstorm in the Libyan Desert.
Three crew members perish, but
Arafat and the other passengers
survive, sustaining only minor
injuries. The 62-year-old Arafat
was returning from a meeting
at a Palestinian guerrilla desert
camp in Libya, following visits to
the Sudan and Yemen. Throughout
his life, the controversial
leader served as President of the
Palestinian National Authority
(PNA), founder and leader of
the Fatah political party and a
Nobel Prize laureate. Speculation
surrounds his 2004 death,
but medical records show that
Arafat died from a stroke caused
by a bleeding disorder.
April 12, 1633
Galileo Trial
The Catholic Church’s Inquisition
puts physicist and astronomer
Galileo Galilei on trial for his conviction
that the Earth orbits the
sun. The church considers the
reverse to be true and deems
Galileo’s claims heresy, even
though science had disproved
their belief centuries earlier.
Galileo is sentenced to a threeyear
prison term and ordered
to recite the seven Penitential
Psalms once per week, but is
instead put under house arrest
when he agrees to renounce
his beliefs. More than 300 years
later, the church admits that
Galileo was indeed correct and
clears his name.
April 15, 1912
Molly Brown Entertains Titanic
Survivors
Titanic passenger Margaret
Brown escapes certain death
and jumps into a lifeboat after
the doomed luxury liner hits an
iceberg 400 miles south of Newfoundland,
Canada. The socialite
helps in the rescue efforts and
entertains shell-shocked survivors
with vivid accounts of life
during Colorado’s gold rush. The
media applauds Brown’s heroic
actions and nicknames her
“the unsinkable Mrs. Brown.”
Brown’s money eventually
dwindles and she lives a modest
life until her death in 1932.
Almost 50 years later, her fame
is revived when the musical, The
Unsinkable Molly Brown debuts
on Broadway in 1960, starring
Tammy Grimes.
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