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In Ballard’s 1974 novel, Concrete Island, the main character is stranded next to a highway after crashing his car. Attempts to incite help from passing motorists fail, as nobody takes him seriously, considering him to be crazy. When we flick through live feeds on facebook, twitter, tumblr, etc., are we not doing the same thing? We read tiny installments of peoples lives, under the impression that we are keeping in contact with them, when in reality this illusion of contact is allowing us to loose contact with people. Less effort is needed to maintain social ties, so when some one disconnects they could be lost forever.

So many online entities post so regularly that it becomes hard to determine what to read. When Pitchfork tweets twenty times a day, obviously I don’t care about half of it, but occasionally something interesting catches my eye. So when I skim my news feed, so full of utter crap, am I missing the crash victim, stranded on his concrete island?