326) Big News Bearer

(Photo from Loveolio, by Max Wanger.)

Increasingly, we are receiving big news via social media.

Just this morning, I learned that a girl I went to elementary school with recently got married from the pictures of her dressed in white posted on Facebook. A few minutes ago, Twitter gently broke the news that Alice in Chains bassist Mike Starr has died. And more soberingly close to home, in the past few years I've learned of two high school classmates' passings via Facebook memorial announcements.

Engagements, college acceptance, weddings, babies, deaths. Sure, we still do the in real life relay of good and bad news, but now we also broadcast it to our networks, including our weak ties. And while this keeps us more informed (I would have never known, had I not seen it on Facebook), it also feels somewhat misplaced amidst the stream of mundane details. Sometimes it feels like it dilutes the specialness of the message, which is contrary to the idea that the more people who know, the better.

While the Internet is the great enabler that makes our lives easier, are there certain things that just shouldn't be delivered online? Marriage proposals via iChat? Eulogies as Facebook Notes? As everything continues to be digitized, are there some territories that, in order to maintain their essence, should stay offline?

(Mini aside - I'm chugging Emergen-c and heading to bed. Cannot get sick before SXSW. Body, COOPERATE.)