Still Point Read Online Free PDF

coughed and cleared their throats. This time the speaker was a girl whose face was sad and serious.
    My little brother is two years old. He spends about twelve hours a day online. They’ve made virtual daycare really interactive. He loves it. It’s easier on my parents, because they have so many online communities to get back to.
    The polished ballroom floor squeaked against chairs scooting back. My dad was already on his feet, followed by Damon and Paul. People moved around on the stage, probably trying to cut the sound or the feed, but it kept playing and my eyes were mesmerized, my ears embracing each word.
    Molly’s image filled the screen:
    I blink twenty thousand times a day. That’s the only way to avoid looking at some kind of a screen these days—to close my eyes completely.
    The camera zoomed in now, so faces filled the screen and you had to look at their eyes, into the depth of them, until you could see light reflecting back.
    The first full face was a young girl’s.
    I haven’t experienced violence or unhappiness, but I haven’t experienced love either. There aren’t any roller-coaster rides in this life. It’s really entertaining and convenient and safe, but it’s all pretty flat, like a train that just circles in one predictable loop. I guess that’s the problem. There are never any crashing lows, but there are never any insane highs. It isn’t much of a ride.
    Gabe was interviewed next. Seeing him made me homesick, like I was staring at family I hadn’t seen in years.
    I want to meet somebody the way my parents did. Face-to-face. They didn’t get to know each other through messages or stalking each other’s profiles. They met in person. They got to know each other in person. That seems so much more exciting to me, and more intimate and mysterious and all the things I guess a relationship should be. I must be pretty old-fashioned. I’ve had a lot of time to think about this, and when I decide to date someone, I’m not going to ask for her number or her online contacts. I’m not going to get to know her through a screen. I’m only going to get to know her in person. I want to work harder to know her. I want her to make the same effort to know me. Aren’t we worth it?
    A boy’s eyes filled the screen, so dark they were nearly black.
    You think DS is safe? Well, I don’t think it’s safe at all. There’s something really cowardly about it. Everyone’s anonymous. You’re always hiding. You can backstab anyone you want. You can be as mean as you want. You never have to see the hurt inflicted on someone else. And that’s become okay. Yeah, DS has its advantages, but it opened up a ton of disadvantages. I’m bullied almost every day. Random nobodies can spread lies about me. And there’s no point in trying to turn these people in because they’ll just set up a new profile with a new name and do it all over again. You’ve made it easy to be mean. You’ve brought out the worst in us. People have more freedom to express whatever they want, but there’s no respect, because they don’t have to feel responsible for what they say. They’re anonymous. But it sucks being the person on the other end because you can’t fight back. You can’t defend yourself. If you’re going to say something mean to me, at least be bold enough to say it to my face. I’m afraid to leave my house because it seems like the world is full of jerks. Man, we are so disconnected. That’s what DS should stand for. A disconnected society.
    Faces poured over the screen like a waterfall, so fast you could hardly see them. Clare’s voice spoke around us.
    This is the paradise you all have created. What do you think about your system now?
    The video snapped off and we were met with silence, the kind of silence that hits you like a crash, like cymbals or fireworks or a window smashing. Silence