Virtual Identities

'Just as we are driven to spread our physical DNA, so apparently do we have an urge to spread our virtual identities, so that we cannot be erased. Instead of physical descendants, we are offering our own virtual selves to posterity.'   http://www.stabroeknews.com/2012/features/12/25/the-rise-of-the-attention-economy/

The last sentence of the article stuck in my mind but with a slightly different twist as I noticed at supposedly the biggest party of the year a good proportion of people were excluding themselves by texting to their other friends - tending to their virtual selves one could say and not being actually present in the moment - I don't think the yogic masters had that in mind when they said 'live in the present' but it does sort of sum up the current trend. Is the present so awful that we have to constantly be anaesthetising ourselves? Instead of interacting with our fellow humans it is easier to watch a mindless soap on TV and be swallowed up with that drama. 
I must confess to happily ignoring the World when engrossed in an interesting book, even in company but I guess internet could and would be a good substitute as more and more discussions and ideas get online - and the article is right-- not seemingly for any sort of profit.