Ambient Awareness and Digital Intimacy

Paul (MindShare, Bangkok) writes:

“I’m So Totally Digitally Close To You” from the New York Times…

…is a long but interesting read with some new concepts like “ambient awareness”, which is “very much like being physically near someone and picking up on his mood through the little things he does — body language, sighs, stray comments — out of the corner of your eye.”, describing the online experience of how we absorb bits and blurbs of ’status updates’ (like those from Facebook, MSN, or Twitter) posted by our social network.

An interesting bit:

“For many people — particularly anyone over the age of 30 — the idea of describing your blow-by-blow activities in such detail is absurd. Why would you subject your friends to your daily minutiae? And conversely, how much of their trivia can you absorb? The growth of ambient intimacy can seem like modern narcissism taken to a new, supermetabolic extreme — the ultimate expression of a generation of celebrity-addled youths who believe their every utterance is fascinating and ought to be shared with the world.“

Also on IHT as “Web Ushers in an Age of Ambient Intimacy” with an analysis on PSFK.