Unsocial Networking

I'm not sure I like where the Internet is going.

This social network stuff has ultimately been a double-edged sword in my mind. They are absolutely convenient and fun. It's an easy way to keep people up to date on your life, fill your calendar with events your friends are going to, get the skinny about your favourite bands, just about any information you could want. I remember in late 2003, when I first joined MySpace, I was excited. It was a great way to share photos and information for a person with little to no experience in web development. This finally meant all of my friends would be able to join me online. Wonderful?

Long before any sort of talk about social networks, beginning around 1998, I kept consistent with my own website, shaped with my own blood and tears. I kept everyone close to me up to date with my life, utilising blogs, pictures and graphics. It was truly exciting and very rewarding to be able to do that. It was fun because I was unique and it was something not everyone could have. I was also doing it long before any of this was coined as "Web 2.0". A certain skill set was required to have a fully functioning website.

Come around 2005, inevitably, everyone I knew owned a MySpace account and/or a Facebook account. At the time, it was really nice to see everyone online. I could keep tabs with close friends that were away for the school year, have a full calendar of events I could choose whether or not to go, get the latest gossip on who's going out. It's amazing how much I could know about friends, family, acquaintances and strangers without even speaking a word.

Let me ask this... How much information is too much information? Facebook is the king grapevine report with their mini-feed. There is so much information that goes through that thing that I'd have rather learned from the source directly. There's also a lot of information I would rather not have known at all. A said this to B, C is sad, D is flying to X, E broke up with F, G is interested in men, H added "Titanic" to their movies, J joined the group, "Pray for 35W survivors", K joined the group, "Minneapolis Bridge Collapse", L is now a Zombie.... The list of personal and stupid information goes on for gigabytes upon gigabytes. The Rumor Mill does not run dry.

I swear, it's going to make our world socially retarded. Every conversation will be some form of gossip, or every coffee-talk will start with "So I saw on Facebook you blah blah blah..." Most casual pictures are already ruined as they are seldom printed (which are great conversation pieces) and always whored on the Internet to tally up a couple comments. Who knows, People may forget how to carry an authentic conversation all together. It will make you wonder who you are even close to.

I had a direction I was going with this, but I'm drawing a blank. I guess I'll end on the basis that I am going to spend less time scrounging around Social Networks and spend more time connecting with people on a more personal basis. I am also going to elaborate on my own website. I got the skills, might as well use em'!

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Facebook, Internet, Myspace, Social Networks, Websites, Technology

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