Bé, encara que
molta gent abusa de les xarxes socials i el temps que passen enganxats al smartphone, i malgrat les
opinions que diuen que tot això ens portarà a perdre vida social, jo he de dir
que de moment en tinc bones sensacions. A banda de la gent que he conegut o
contactat a traves d’internet, fins i tot aquest any he tingut la oportunitat
de conèixer alguns en persona. I de moment, bé, cap assassí en serie ni coses
rares.
Fa temps que
segueixo un bloc que m’agrada molt, que barreja musica i pensaments de l’autor.
El blocaire en qüestió viu a l’altra punta de Catalunya, però aquest any va
haver de venir a Tortosa i vaig poder trobar-me amb ell uns minuts i vaig
confirmar lo que pensava, una bona persona! A vore si ens tornem a trobar un
dia...
També seguim un blocde Yorkshire, el autor del qual viu molt a prop d’on viuen mons pares i explica
caminades i parla de llocs que visita que jo conec bastant. A més a més, també
hi posa molts reflexions personals molt variades, barrejat amb un bon sentit d’humor.
Firma com a Yorkshire Pudding i poca gent coneix la seva identitat real – però a
l’estiu li vam proposar una petita trobada a Sheffield. Vam anar tota la
família, vam fer un cafè junts amb ell i vam xerrar més d’una hora. És una bona
persona amb una vida també molt interessant. A vore si ens tornarem a trobar...
almenys ara hem posat una cara al personatge del Pudding!
A la primavera
vam quedar amb 4 o 5 tuitaires que ens sembla que tenim alguna cosa en comú –
piular sobre les Terres de l’Ebre. No coneixiem gaire 2 d’ells. Vam fer un
esmorzar de productes de la terra – pa amb tomaquet, pernil, formatges, vins,
oli del bo etc – i vam parlar una bona estona, arreglant el món (local).
A l’estiu també
vaig anar a Barcelona per un dinar amb un grup de gent que piulem coses sobre
Catalunya en anglès i que poc a poc ens estavem trobant per les xarxes. També
ho vam passar molt bé, i d’allí ha sortit un bon grapat d’amistats fructífers.
En fi, de moment,
es confirma la regla – que si uses les xarxes amb coneixement, poder ser bones
eines, no tots son trolls i ciberbullies !
..............
So, social
networks and smartphones and all this internet stuff are just for cyberbullies,
trolls, and nutters, and will be the end of civilization as we know it? Maybe.
But for now, I’ve had a Good Year which seems to prove the opposite. Rather than
losing my social life thanks to my (almost) addiction to the internet, I have
in fact made and met more friends...
For some
time now I’ve been reading a blog which offers up great music mixed in with the
thoughts of the blogger himself. As he lives at the other end of Catalonia, we’d
only “spoken” via blog comments or email... till this year. He had to come to
Tortosa for a sporting event his daughter was participating in, so we arranged
to meet up and had a short but grand time chatting.
Another
blog I try to keep up with is written by a certain Mr Yorkshire Pudding and
offers the author’s thoughts on a fascinating variety of topics, as well as
many local references as he likes walking, studying the history of, and posting
photos of many of the areas which I know from my youth as he lives quite near
my parents’ house. In the summer we met up with him in Sheffield city centre –
in a public café just in case he was the typical serial killer you hear about
who uses internet to lure his victims into his web. Well, he isn’t – I think.
In fact we spent a fine hour chatting away and, who knows, maybe we’ll meet in
person again. But in a more civilized place, like Barnsley.
In the
spring time a group of local tweeters who hardly knew each other, but shared
our love of commenting on local things, decided to meet up at my house and get
to know each other in person over a typical Catalan breakfast (with lots of
local products) – “bread with tomato”, ham, cheese, wines, olive oil, local
pastries and chocolate. We had a great time and will definitely do it again!
Similarly,
a different group of us who’d noticed that we were all tweeting about Catalonia
in English decided to have a meal together this summer in Barcelona. We had a
great time and some fruitful friendships arose.
So, to cut
a long story short, don’t believe everything you read in the Daily Mail, people
are still people, and 99% of us enjoy getting out and meeting people and having
a good time – and some of us know where the Off button is on all this
technology too.
Update: forgot to link the blogs yesterday. Sorted now!