03 May 2011 / New York / Television / Twitter 1997–2011
I'm sure it's not just me that feels a strange sense of closure from the last few days. It's as if the noughties, that strange, awkwardly-named decade, has finally come to an end. An era kicked off by two violent events that shocked the world – the death of Princess Diana and the 9/11 attacks – has been punctuated poetically by the mirror events of the Royal wedding and the execution of Osama bin Laden. Horror has been balanced with (questionable) celebration.
Both events were cause for an unprecedented flurry of social networking commentary. On Friday, it felt as if everyone on earth was competing to come up with the best 140-character royal wedding quip. Beyond the punnery though, it was incredible to feel part of a global, communal event. All eyes were, for once, on the same thing. And yesterday, the stunned reaction reverberating across Twitter and Facebook was palpable, and the global debate about what this all actually meant took place in an instant.
This highlights one significant change that has occurred throughout protracted decade: when those tragedies happened in Paris and New York, there was no Twitter to act as mankind's mouthpiece. There was no Facebook. There was no MySpace. It seems odd, alien, to think that when the towers fell, we weren't all tweeting our reactions. What did we do? We couldn't even drown out the despair with the comfort-blanket of an iPod!
The switch from passively receiving the opinions of the few to actively contributing to the din of the many has been swiftly embraced, perhaps catalysed by a communal feeling of being powerless and mute in the wake of such destructive events. We have been through a commentary revolution. Quite where it goes from here is anyone's guess, but there's certainly no going back to how it was.
Now all we have to do is decide what the heck we're going to call this new decade …
Reader Comments (3)
I suppose we're in the teenage years of the 21st century.
I actually brought this up to my high school students yesterday, but it was more in regards to OBL than the Royal Wedding. When I recalled to them that, when I was seven days shy of sixteen, 9/11 had happened and we had nothing resembling the social networking that we have today, they could barely fathom it.
It seemed almost archaic to them that we'd have been glued to the television instead of attached to our computer/iPod Touch/iPhone/thing with internet access, reading the responses and reactions from everyone between close friend and random person we follow because they have awesome blogs/articles/writing skills.
Then again, to some of those who grew up with the beginning of television, it probably seemed just as awkward that people once glued themselves to the radio to hear about the major events of their day.
I was sitting in the sociology postgrad common room on Friday, trying to work but despairing at the jubilant 'royal wedding party' being held by students over at James college. I had rarely felt so alienated from my fellow students - surely it's against the law for students to be pro-monarchy? - and so turned to the internet for comfort. I was thrilled by the quips, the sarcasm, the photoshopped images, the wry observations... and I felt a great sense of peace, knowing I was among my own kind.