Reflections from 2034 : On The Social Network Boom
Reflections from 2034 : On The Social Network Boom Cameron Byerly Published in St. John's Epoch, October 2016 In those idyllic years before The War, when both the millennia and I were reaching our teens, a cultural explosion rocked the world. The Social Network Boom, as it is now called, was to human communication what the American Gold Rush was to westward expansion; it completely engulfed the public’s imagination, and thrust those fully romanced unto uncharted territory. It was a fascinating and chaotic time; its madcap experimentation would create the spine of modern communication and thought. And yet, there is little discussion today as to how this Boom began, how it existed, and what factors would cause it to, inevitably, end. To fully understand this dramatic adolescence from past to present, one has to know what the world was before, and what the world has become nearly 20 years later. The beginning point of The Boom, ignoring its failed precursors, was once...