There is a constant search among the inhabitants of humanity to find something that validates their life- that tucks them in every night, fills their head with sugary childhood fairy tale, tells them “it’s going to be okay- that their life has meaning.” The computer offers more interactivity with the human media bedrock than any other form combined. However, television is not fighting a losing battle- how can 35 million viewers be wrong? In today’s society, people want attention and they want action. They want to feel that their time spent on a populated planet in the lonely regions of space and their hearts have meaning and are not at waste. Myspace, blogs, television- it’s all forms of validating life. Just like Bach and his piano, Thoreau and Walden. Only that now, the focus has shifted quite a bit. The anonymous person who doesn’t want to be a spectator is at nine keystrokes away from being the anonymous to the highly respected and infamous personage with 12000 friends (impersonally enough, only of which 20 they actually know) on Myspace. One could reason why a mere statistic for the types of people who necessitate acceptation by fellow peers could potentially validate their otherwise anonymous life. It’s not because teenagers are taking control of media- it’s because they’re using it to take control of their lives. They don’t want to be the kid in a sea of nobodies with a bad haircut, ill-fitted sweatshirt jacket (with the usual adornment of either blood, trite poetry or in some unfortunate cases- both) and girl’s jeans to boot- they want to be the “somebody”! That person everyone knows, everyone listens to, everyone likes and accepts. That person whom is greeted in the hallways of American high schools with fake beatific smiles that reek of impersonality due to the bearer wanting to be like them. It is the battle between impersonality and truth- they would rather accept the false and become happy than accept the truth and feel something real. It is something that validates their life. It is enlightenment for the spiritual and often intellectual lacking. The computer makes this easy to do and to accomplish: that ill-fitted sweatshirt jacket and girl’s jeans are readily available online. And once one is finished shopping, they can parade around in their new attire upon the falsity that is Myspace- in hopes of garnering new admiration from their gaped mouth, drooling fans. In hopes that this new admiration will fill their pathetic void of a life that is seriously lacking any respect from themselves. But hey, to each his own I guess. Oh oh, but the bestial head that is consumer America- that is the defining quality of life: what most people strive for in order to validate their otherwise meaningless lives- only to fall into the mental pitfalls of their own illogic; foundation upon meaningless action begets only a meaningless life.