‘Public personal.' As far as I know, it's a term that I just made up. Unfortunately, I had no involvement in the other. If I had, I would probably be writing this off the coast of Tunisia or somewhere else that makes me sound well-traveled. Ok, I wouldn't be writing this at all.

In some oppressed version of freedom, we consider terms like ‘wireless' and ‘hands-free,' liberating. In a way, they probably are. Understanding the graver implications, they are simply knuckles flexing on the hand that strangles us. Instead of surfing the waves of the ocean, we surf the waves of the Internet. As opposed to running our hands across the sands of the Florida Keys, we're running our fingers across the keys on our laptops. This liberation, this new technology that allows us to bring our tools with us, is exactly that which further connects us to consumerist slavery.

We create little worlds, faint glimmers of who we are, or better yet, how we wish to be portrayed, to others who are doing the same thing. We build a room, all our own, with the exception of advertisers who have the skeleton key. Lest we forget, these places, these private domains for which we so desperately seek to create, are heightened versions of escapism. If that's true, then why are advertisers immune to entry restrictions? It's not MySpace, it's our space. It's not iPhone, it's our phone. Advertisers piggy-back on these new inventions to bring it even closer, more often, and more effective. Kudos, but at what expense? We strive, fight tooth and nail, to have the newest in communicative technology brought beyond people's front doors, closer than their desks, until it is almost adhered to their bodies. Is there no reprieve?

‘Public personal.' Clever (thanks). Founded on the idea that, even when we yearn for individuality, we are simply condemning ourselves to our role as pawns of capitalism. When timeless artists spoke of epiphanies on beaches, they were not referring to reading a blog posted by someone in Bangladesh; it was about allowing the natural world to have its effect on you. We get so caught up in selling and buying and trading that we never take the time to appreciate what we have created, or even what we have at all. I already have MySpace, it's called the sky and the sea and everything else that is for mankind. My iPhone is a pretty cool Samsung, chipped and bitten, which allows me to text London and Sydney for about $.15. For that, technology, I thank you.

I am not here in attempt to curb the advertising industry, for many of my peers would be out of jobs and the uber-traditionalists would be hard-pressed for things about which they could complain. I only wish to urge everyone to take the time, what little may be left during their daily hustles to enjoy everything that's not man made, that doesn't have a price tag, that isn't the latest and greatest toy written up in all the magazines. We should not be fooled by false definitions of liberation, nor should we be lost in manifestations of freedom.