There’s nothing new about social networking. The new and unusual development was the fracturing of social networks in the first place, the loss of community. This didn’t happen on an inner city sink estate during the Thatcher years, where communities have survived surprisingly well. I think it started in the groovy, baby boomer 50′s and 60′s when the middle classes rejected their cultural, geographical and religious roots and turned to worship the new God of International Corporate culture. They moved to new neighbourhoods specifically designed to accommodate them and their upwardly mobile friends, where they could host discreet dinner parties and play golf with ‘the right sort of people’. But they lost their original ‘friends and family’ on the way. And if they moved on up, then they made more new friends again [and discarded the last lot]. And I think they were pretty happy with the way it worked. Who wants embarrassing ghosts of their their less prosperous past hanging around?
So if you want your community back, what do you do?
You buy a farmhouse in a charming village in Norfolk and join the local Darts team.
And if you can’t afford a farmhouse in a charming village in Norfolk?
There’s always facebook.
