At one time or another, we have all done something expressly for the 'Gram - or at any rate, with the 'Gram firmly in mind. As those who exerted our will even pre-gram, and whose work largely exists online, I wonder if the dark energy described in the strip is an us thing or a thing that is just part of existing in a time where any given moment might become infinite.

My eldest wouldn't find that conversation interesting at all; outside of a few select allies, I think they'd prefer not to be perceived in any way. The younger of the two - Ronia - had to write a paper on why Social Media might have deleterious effects on the youth, and could not truly conceive of the idea that it might have any negative externalities at all. To understand this, it's important to recognize that they don't think of the Internet the way you might if you were already real before the internetwork became broadly accessible.

You or I might think of various services as islands that rise up out of an ocean, or buildings situated on a municipal grid, or "griddy." They're suspended in a medium. This is not how true natives think of the place - the medium itself disappears. There's no Internet at all. There is only manifestations of it. The question her teacher is trying to ask them doesn't actually parse, because Social Media is the Internet. This is how the question sounds to them: "should people have computers or phones?"

Kids on this block take pictures with Polaroids and shit. And then they take a picture of the Polaroid with their phones. If somebody else said that, I would think they were taking the piss - but I love it. I think it gets down to something. I asked them because I was curious - theoretically, these filters exist for digital photos, and the camera that is of a piece with their, you know, fuckin'... computer phone is like twelve megapixels or whatever. What is it not doing that this relatively small, objectively imperfect object is doing?

They said that a digital picture isn't real.  That these wonders could be commonplace to them makes sense; they're everywhere, and have always existed.  Ubiquity will do that to ya.  But our common things, treasures?  Is it just the inverse of the other concept, reified?  I might have to chew on that one for a bit.      

(CW)TB out.