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I recently saw on twitter a graphic making fun of adolescents’ current view of Maslow’s hierachy of needs, which had ‘wifi’ at the bottom, even before the basic physical needs of “food” followed by safety/shelter, then social needs, etc, etc.
It occurred to me that social media (not the wifi per se, though wifi is essential because i am more often on the iPad than anything else) are as important to me as breathing now. You could argue it is “connection” (a social need) or self-actualization (an even higher need) but the need I have for blogging, twitter, facebook, MOOCing is now as essential to me as breath. Maslow forgot that one, and he didn’t realize that the order is not necessarily the same as he put it.
I sacrifice food and sleep in order to be on social media, and it feels like no sacrifice at all, because it has potential to bring me so much inner peace and excitement at the same time. It also brings me all kind of pain, but anything we care about does that. Because it’s not a “thing”. It’s connections with people and ideas. More than social, more than self-actualization, and for me, more important than food and sleep.
So Maha I suggest MOOBs and MOOSEs. Massive open online banquets (or P for picnic) and Massive open online snooze/sleep events.
Cool ideas, Simon!
The list of people we “know” has expanded so much, it makes sense that technology is now a necessity of life. Finding people and places that can care for almost every need we have allows us to be more complex and confident–complete. Great post Maha!