Social Media: the New Answering Machine

Hello my field daisies!

As you know I am a lover of poetry, and today I thought I would share a poem with you guys that might give some food for thought. If you aren’t into poetry, stay and read anyway. I’ll be making a Breaking Bad reference.

The Answering Machine 

By Linda Pastan

 

This poem reminds me so much of the season 3 episode 3 of Breaking Bad when Jesse Pinkman keeps calling Jane’s voicemail to hear her voice.

It’s so sad when, at the end of the episode, the number becomes disconnected and he is forced to let her go.

 If you haven’t watched Breaking Bad, here is what the voicemail sounds like. I’ve also included Jesse’s voicemail so you can see just how alike these two are.

Aaron Paul and Krysten Ritter had such great chemistry on the show. Here is a montage to help you remember in case you forgot.

“Nothing is perfect”

“Yeah? Well… I mean… some things…”

Though Jesse ends up moving on to Andrea, I still can’t help up but picturing what his life would have been like running off with Jane and the money.

 If there is one thing I can’t forgive Walt for, it’s for letting her die. Oooo and the way he used that to break Jesse down in the last season… That’s worse than a knife in the back.

I have such mixed feelings about Walter White. Even though he did all those terrible things, he is still the protagonist. The most screen time is spent with him, making us root for him, even willing for him to kill people like Gus so he will survive. We live for the drama. That’s what keeps us coming back. Though Vince Gilligan did say he was surprised if anyone was still on Walt’s side by the last season. I’m not necessarily Team Walt, but I still felt a sense of redemption when he saved Jesse in the last episode.

Of course one could argue that it was he who put Jesse in that slavery position to begin with, but I’m getting off topic.

The point that I am trying to make is that we are entering an age where social media has become the new answering machine of our generation. The “accidental mercy” of answering machines is being replaced by something not so accidental. Babies born in this year are going to have their ENTIRE LIVES timelined on Facebook.

If you want to see and hear someone after they’re gone you can just go look at their Vine. If you want to read their daily thoughts go to Twitter. If you want to see pictures of what they ate look to Instagram (or other stuff the food thing is just a joke).

People no longer need to be famous to have their lives memorialized. We are actively creating a memorial for ourselves each and every day. It’s a bit of a morbid thought, to think that each time you tweet you are leaving a little digital footprint that someone can look at once you’re dead…

But it could also be considered a good thing. Your social media accounts don’t become disconnected once you stop using them.

If a loved one is not around anymore, write on their Facebook wall. Who knows? Maybe heaven has WiFi.

Just a thought.

Anyway that’s it for today!

Love ya’ll and thanks for reading!

Hope you have a daisyish day 🙂