A US marine leaps into the arms of his same-sex partner for a homecoming kiss splashed ’round the interwebs, leap day provides an extra day to ponder how we spend the usual 365 and a leap year look back at life online (since 1996). This week’s online conversations seemed to have us leaping forward and looking back – sometimes at the same time.
The marine kiss would have been unthinkable before the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT). But now that the US government has moved ahead with its repeal and gay men and lesbians can openly serve in our armed forces, same-sex couples sharing kisses and embraces after months apart will soon become no more unusual than opposite-sex couple reunions. Only the most touching will make headlines. Flash forward a couple of years. A photo like this one will probably stand the test of time and be given its due, right next to the famous World War II era sailor kissing that nurse in Times Square. More ordinary displays, by any type of couple, won’t make us blink.
Blink – and you will miss it. A survey this week found that our attention spans literally are less than the blink of an eye. That’s how little it takes for some people to click away if a page doesn’t download fast enough. Sheesh!
Clicking forward, the Republican Party’s war on women suffered a setback this week. On Thursday, the Senate voted down a bill that would have allowed employers to restrict health care coverage for health issues that violated their beliefs (read: birth control). Online conversations and actions continue to fuel – and beat back – this sad attempt at an election year wedge issue. We only wonder what leap backward we’ll be up against next week.
Clicking back. Sad news this week for tail-end Baby Boomers, Generation Jones and Gen-X kids who grew up watching Davy Jones and The Monkees. Lead Monkee, and Marcia Brady’s one-time prom date, died suddenly of a heart attack. In true online fashion, Jones’ passing was initially dismissed on Twitter as yet another celebrity death hoax. But by the time the news made it to Facebook, complete with flashback YouTube videos, we knew the news was true. R.I.P. Davy.
Photo source: Associated Press.
Kathy Drasky regularly writes about online culture. Her marketing and communications work with the ANZA Technology Network, Advance Global Australians and with various Australians and Australian enterprises has led to at least a dozen trips Down Under.
An accomplished digital photographer, her photos have appeared in 7×7 Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and Google Schmap.
