"Leave Evidence That You Lived"

As technology plays a more and more significant role in our life, we are sometimes confused with the virtual world and the real life. Like Mae, our current life is closely associated with internet. Can anyone live without their phones or laptops or tablets? Apparently the answer is no. I assume the reason is the increasing social pressure leads us to seek for personal fulfillment. We are picturing a world where we could be supermen; however, this is definitely not the reality. 

The difference between a real and simulated world is that we experience in the prior one. In the real world, we laugh when we like something; we cry when we feel distressed; we hug when we meet someone we miss. In contrast, we "no longer pick up on basic human communication clues"(262) in the online community. We merely click on the "like" button to express our feelings. I'm not presenting harsh critics on the use of social media because the society is advancing technologically, while our generation and the generation following us will slowly put more emphasize on the simulated world. We barely talk to our friends or families, showing direct face-to-face reactions; instead, we type down our thoughts by thousands of emoji. We do not experience anymore. 

Based on my illustration of the difference between two worlds, I think Mercer is correct when he asks Mae "do you realize how incredibly boring you've become". I totally agree that Mae can no longer distinguish between a real world and a simulated world. Mae stresses too much importance of her popularity in online society that she "sits at a desk twelve hours a day and [she has] nothing to show for it except for some numbers that won't exist or be remembered in a week"(262). She is not contributing values in her real life. Paradoxically, she "thinks she is at the center of things, and that makes [her] opinions more valuable" (262). There is no evidence in reality that reflects she is alive since she lives in the simulated world where she does everything according to some ridiculous statistics proving she was vigorous. 

In our life, more and more people are living a life like Mae. I used to be addicted to the "fake world" as well. I once had over 500 contacts on my Wechat (a kind of social media used in China that is similar to Facebook) and I thought I was popular. I shared my days with them, and they liked my photos, and I commented on their daily lives; I felt that they were my true friends. Nevertheless, I met less than 100 of them every day and the rest of them I barely knew or even saw them just once. How innocent I was to consume I was social! Now as I deleted nearly half of my contacts online, I start to meet more people in life; I get more opportunities to know them, to actually hang out with them. I live my life and leave evidence that I lived. 

Mae is confused with a simulated world and her real life because her duty in The Circle requires her living behind screes everyday. On the contrary, we can balance our life and take advantage of technology to connect with reality and live a vivid life.