Aaaand you're probably looking at this post thinking, "Hypocrite!" In a way, you'd be right, but I'm more talking about social media in the sense of Facebook, Twitter, and the almost-forgotten MySpace. Our society has quickly become completely lost without these "connections" that we make. How often do websites ask us to follow them on Twitter? How often do we see links to "Like us on Facebook"? Even this site has links pre-inserted to these sites!
I personally do not use these venues of expression, for various reasons. #1: It's like inviting the world into your life, to view it like a movie, or a book. There are those who overshare, and we all know them. They are the ones who post everything that happens, no matter how miniscule, throughout their day. Then there are those who feel like they need to make "random" posts about nothing, just to show the world that they can. There are those posters who post vague, convoluted posts, in the hopes that people will be sympathetic and give them attention. Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace exist for the most narcissistic reason possible: because the people using them think that the world actually care what they're doing every second of the day.
News flash: we don't!
Originally, Facebook was started to help college students connect with people in their school, and thus make new friends. When it went fully public however, things changed. The attention-whores of the world took over, and now it's basically a way for most people to either play mind-numbing games "against" other people, collect bits of data within said games, get attention from other people, or collect "friends."
Why is it that "defriending" a person on one of these sites is seen as an end-of-the-world tragedy that can go so far as to end an actual friendship or relationship? WHY does it matter so much that the person decided not to share their Facebook page anymore?
Here is how I see it: Facebook is like a diary, but one made so everyone can read it. Some people (basically no one) choose to make it so they are the only ones who can read it (as it should be) and occasionally reach out to people THEY ACTUALLY KNOW through messages. Then there are people who share things with their "friends," typically people they actually know as well. Then we have those who are beginner friend collectors, who share with "friends of friends." You know, those strangers who know someone you know, but don't really give a damn about YOUR life, but read it to laugh at the drama. Finally, we have those who go public, the full-out attention whores, who attempt to get every shred of attention from everyone they possibly can, no matter if it's Joe Schmoe off of the street.
You don't know Joe Schmoe, but you're going to get horribly offended if he defriends you one day after you post about what you had for lunch? Really?
I'm ending my rant, I promise. Ultimately, I realize this post changes no one's point of view, but I have to say it: social media has become the fastest trend to change the psychology of society as a whole that has ever been known to man. We have gone from knowing what is private and privileged information, to not understanding why someone wouldn't want to talk about their personal life with a complete stranger. It is pushing people towards narcissism, and anything that pushes people towards mental
I personally do not use these venues of expression, for various reasons. #1: It's like inviting the world into your life, to view it like a movie, or a book. There are those who overshare, and we all know them. They are the ones who post everything that happens, no matter how miniscule, throughout their day. Then there are those who feel like they need to make "random" posts about nothing, just to show the world that they can. There are those posters who post vague, convoluted posts, in the hopes that people will be sympathetic and give them attention. Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace exist for the most narcissistic reason possible: because the people using them think that the world actually care what they're doing every second of the day.
News flash: we don't!
Originally, Facebook was started to help college students connect with people in their school, and thus make new friends. When it went fully public however, things changed. The attention-whores of the world took over, and now it's basically a way for most people to either play mind-numbing games "against" other people, collect bits of data within said games, get attention from other people, or collect "friends."
Why is it that "defriending" a person on one of these sites is seen as an end-of-the-world tragedy that can go so far as to end an actual friendship or relationship? WHY does it matter so much that the person decided not to share their Facebook page anymore?
Here is how I see it: Facebook is like a diary, but one made so everyone can read it. Some people (basically no one) choose to make it so they are the only ones who can read it (as it should be) and occasionally reach out to people THEY ACTUALLY KNOW through messages. Then there are people who share things with their "friends," typically people they actually know as well. Then we have those who are beginner friend collectors, who share with "friends of friends." You know, those strangers who know someone you know, but don't really give a damn about YOUR life, but read it to laugh at the drama. Finally, we have those who go public, the full-out attention whores, who attempt to get every shred of attention from everyone they possibly can, no matter if it's Joe Schmoe off of the street.
You don't know Joe Schmoe, but you're going to get horribly offended if he defriends you one day after you post about what you had for lunch? Really?
I'm ending my rant, I promise. Ultimately, I realize this post changes no one's point of view, but I have to say it: social media has become the fastest trend to change the psychology of society as a whole that has ever been known to man. We have gone from knowing what is private and privileged information, to not understanding why someone wouldn't want to talk about their personal life with a complete stranger. It is pushing people towards narcissism, and anything that pushes people towards mental