The Internet Age: The Age of Sillyness

Hmmmmm…I don’t think it’s necessarily just the internet. You have to keep in mind, a) the internet is a very geeky thing, mostly, and geeks are silly, b) “Gen Y”‘s population on the internet has *exploded* in recent years, they use it for all kinds of communication, and we all know teenagers are silly, and c) the internet economy has always prided itself on being different than all the other business models; it was built by renegades who set out to create a revolution in the way we do things; so how do you differentiate yourself from the “shackles” of the very serious, very dry corporate world? You name your company Yahoo instead of Search Engine Systems Limited. Or Amazon instead of Barnes and Noble.

Tangent: the “niche” market thing is quickly disappearing. Google is getting into everything these days, and Yahoo owns Flickr and Konfabulator, Ebay bought Skype and Amazon sells tons of stuff. Some of those crazy named companies are definitely not so niche anymore.

The anonymity (sp?) of the web allows for people to act silly/stupid (and one might argue, sometimes more openly and honestly) when there’s no fear of a real world rejection or admonishment. Indeed, you could even say you receive validation because you’ll eventually meet other people who don’t think you’re stupid but actually think you’re a comic genius.

Another thing to consider is the speed of e-mail and instant messaging. We think nothing of forwarding on silly little videos or flash animations, which has given rise, especially recently, to the sickening amount of novelty that’s going around these days, all of it pretty silly.

At any rate, I think it’s telling that you had to give your gamer tag over the phone to a real live person. :) I’m sure it will make all of us gamers think twice before naming our virtual alter egos “Damtura, the Light Bringer”.