Time and Timelines

Time, in itself is a fascinating subject but an aspect of time is the concept of a time line.  A line from two points in time.  Point A and point B.  Our lives can be viewn as a timeline with point A being our Birth and point B being the depressing antipode of that.

Although part of the inspiration for this post, I'd rather focus on the concept of a timeline in general, not just the Facebook feature.

I am 23 years old.  My timeline however long it may last will be at least 23 years.  While we may look to the future at times, looking to the past can be just as interesting.  On this blog alone which I started in April, my personal attitude has changed a lot, my writing style varies at times, what I think about and what I chose to write about and share is just as varied.  I went back on Facebook a few years to a point in my life that was turbulent to say the least.  For the most part I did not recognise the person I saw in those posts.  I remember the pain and the heartache the laughter and the joys from that time in my life but the mentality I must of had when writing some of those posts alludes me.

For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, before you go searching I would simply say these posts are now gone.  I have deleted them.  I have deleted them for one reason alone:  We do not remember every thought we ever hold, we only remember those that are important to us.  There was a time when I would have left all there in place and allowed myself to refer back to them to see my whole story but I have come to realise that this perhaps is not healthy.  If you think about it, the fact that our minds do not remember ever single thought we ever hold, in itself is reason enough.  Our past is important as it helped shape who we are but we should not live within it.

Social networking sites make it easier than ever, ironically, to make it harder than ever to forget your past.  Should we remember everything?  Is it wrong to forget things and "edit" your past?  When we are cut our bodies heal, most scars fade with time and wounds can become such that one would never know they were there.  If our Body and Mind have evolved to the point where only the deepest of cuts and the most emphatic of memories stay with us then why should we not take the same approach to our lives?

I have Facebook and I have Twitter and in both cases I have never gone back through my timelines and re-read all that was there.  I worry that the generations that grow up with Facebook a part of their life from a young age will one day use it in such a way that causes them great sadness or pain.  It is one thing to recall the conversations you shared with the one you loved, who no longer loves you - it is another to go back and read those words in black and white.  The mind greys our memories, sharp words become blunt and the detail fades; with technology recalling every character in perfect clarity an innocent message, triviality, mundane day to day events can become so emotional.  With technology the shards of glass stay sharp forever more.

I am from a generation that is a hybrid, between old ways and new ways, between off-line and on-line, a generation of transition.  I wonder how those who know nothing but new ways will cope when their every moment is presented to them.  Will the day come when Facebook timelines of some profiles have 'black-holes', gaps in time where all posts that remind them of a time of turmoil are purged?

Then what about timelines as wholes, when they cross, when people meet.  I like to share a quote with people, "Once you have met me you'll never forget me" - these words are not my own, they are the words of another, a guy that I will never forget for many reasons, but after all these years now I have to question this quote.  It may indeed be true, once you have met me, you will never forget me, but is that the way it should be?  For some people I have met I do have to wonder if, some things, should be forgotten.