Warhol 2.0 – 15 minutes of anonymity

In times where people wish their “friends/followers” a good night via twitter and in moments, where Maltese real estate agents want to professionally interact with a communication intern in the Netherlands, you cannot stop but notice how public your private life has become. I can barely browse the internet without stumbling upon a Facebook thumb or a small blue bird. Hold on, I stumbled upon it? What seems as a nice usage of semantic turns out to be the latest gadget in the social media theme park. This service offers you (by logging on with your FB account) websites that mixes your personal interests and hobbies, so you can be exposed to even more news, tweets, updates and thumbs up than you even did before.

15 minutes of fame

While I personally have only joined LinkedIn to create a professional network which might come in handy for future jobs, recommendations and the usual “hey, let us stay in touch” idea, I come to regret it more and more these days. With smart kids, who seem incapable of understanding the difference between FB and LinkedIn (and thus publish seemingly meaningless nonsense regarding formula 1 or pressing the “i like” button on a “i go to bed” comment) I considered deleting my account for good. However, this action will be non-beneficial. Not for me, not for my “business partners” which whom I might engage in professional interaction at some point in the future (left aside the mysterious invite from the Maltese real estate agent) and certainly not for these geeks who need people like me (or in general, people) that are able to see their comments posted on various websites, blogs and forums. I will not delete my account at LinkedIn nor will I ever have one on Facebook. The reason for that is that I do not want to get sucked into the whole “show the world who you are” nonsense any more than I already have.
In 1968, when the great Andy Warhol coined the widely used expression of “in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes”, his idea was far from being realistic. Fame was something remotely known to the younger generation.

I now want what my generation has come to learn but has forgotten even faster: 15 minutes of anonymity…

15 minutes of anonymity