LOL made me take a critical look at myself and the way I use technology in my everday life. My friend Paula refuses to get a Blackberry/Treo even though she would definitely benefit from one. It wasn't until I watched LOL that I understood why. I saw myself in Tim, Chris, and Alex and recognized the silent frustration expressed by my friends when I'm constantly checking my email or texting someone. Paula said she didn't like the idea of constantly being available to the outside world via email or SMS. She had the freedom to turn her cell off, screen calls, or simply say she hadn't checked her email - with a Blackberry this would be almost impossible. Are we more connected because of this technology? Not quite. I may be able to respond to an email from a coworker, but its at the expense of a conversation I'm having with a friend.
The film is complemented by a series videoheads performance peices Although I constantly responded email during the movie (and at several points paused it to take a phone call) I can't help but think that LOL is going to have a profound impact on the way I construct my social interactions with others.
Personal - read: intimate - relationships are counfounded by technology and LOL addresses this issue in a roundabout way. I think that technology can bring people together and build community on multiple levels, but it also gives people the ability to make complete assholes of themselves and the male leads in the film seem to do a very good job of the latter. If the film does one thing extremely well it was capturing those unnoticed moments in our every day lives where we allow technology to negatively affect our personal relationships (such as talking on a cell phone and ignoring a passenger in the car or interrupting an IRL conversation to send a text).