Monday, February 6, 2012

Social Mediaitis

* Note: I know the irony in this blog, and I continue to write it because what better way to to exploit social media then on a social media site?

"Don't say anything online that you wouldn't want plastered on a billboard with your face on it."
-Erin Bury

As I was waiting in line for my daily caffeine fix, I over heard an obnoxiously loud voice coming from behind me.  My initial thought was, my god it is too early for this and my second was to turn around and glare at the bleach blonde standing in the door of the college cafe.  
"I don't understand why he doesn't respect and trust me, what have I ever done to him?!?"
I don't understand why you have to borderline screech at 7 a.m when I haven't had my coffee yet, but I'm not broadcasting that. As I stared at her I realized I recognized her from one of my Facebook friends pictures, and then it started to click.  This girl is one of those girls who has 500 pictures of her drunk and sloppy scattered across various friends pages.  She isn't a friend of mine, only a friend of a friend and I felt like saying well from seeing you on so and so's page I can think of about 50 reasons why he and your parents and your friends should be embarrassed, let alone not trust or respect you. 


Now I can't say there aren't a few dozen pictures on the internet of myself that I wish weren't there, or didn't exist at all. But I can say that there aren't pictures in the triple digits of me getting inebriated.  Today it is so easy to share every part of your life, or to create your own reality, or connect with people thousands of miles away.  We all have that friend who has to update their status every hour or half hour, you log on to Facebook and your news feed is clogged with every detail of their life.  I always thought why not just get a Twitter and stop plastering your business all over my news feed? I don't care that you just took a shower and now your going grocery shopping and I can promise you I'm not going to care when you get to the grocery store and they are out of blueberry coffee, ok maybe I might slightly care about that if you go to the same store as I do.  But then I realize that substituting one social network for another is just enabling, you're still clogging someones news feed with useless updates of your life, Twitter is just more excepting. 

65 Million out of the 200 million active Facebook users access the site through there mobile devices. Because we cant go 8 hours at work without checking in and see who's going to the grocery store, or who got drunk and had a video posted about it.  Companies use it for Marketing, News Channels use it for broadcasting, Musicians use it for promoting events, teenagers use it to ruin their lives, newly weds use it to ruin their marriages and older people use it to check in on their teenage grandchildren who are ruining their lives.  
Both of my parents are on Facebook, neither one of them are my friends.  Not because I have something to hide like most but because I don't need to see my mom joking with her friends and I would like to try to keep her thinking I know how to watch my mouth around mine.  Anyway, they argue over who is on Facebook too much, my opinion? If you are arguing about it then I am going to say...um.. both of you. 


I'm going to say, just about all of the 200 million users on Facebook do.


 

1 comment:

  1. What a great blog : ) Hope you keep it up, fellow cynic (oh the irony)

    ReplyDelete