The Intimate Internet: You're gonna need a thick skin

Due to social networking, we're all neighbors now. (And it's only getting worse.)

I find that this deprives me of a lot of options for jokes. The people (and their projects) I want to joke about are just one hyperlink away. I myself am quite sensitive to criticism, so I also hold back criticism of others.

But criticism is important, lest we all become a bunch of homogeneous circlejerkers.

In the old days, artists, and everybody who put out stuff into public view needed a very thick skin. It came with the territory. If you were an artist, you had to live with those blood-sucking critics.

But because the internet is so low-key, we're all just normal persons now, putting our projects out into public view.

But that shouldn't stop us from criticizing each other. I think we all need to grow thicker skins, so that we can allow the criticism that invariably comes from public attention.

Get ready to be dissed!