Combine this, however, with my distaste for social networking, and you’ve got kind of a weird mix, I think.
I sat next to Liz last night at a dinner celebration for Baditude’s birthday. She found it PRET-ty hilarious that I denied a friend request from an elementary school classmate that I haven’t talked to in, say, 20 years. I don’t know if anyone on the planet has ever denied a friend request, judging by her reaction. I tried to explain that the term “friend” holds a certain meaning for me, and I’m sorry, there’s no way I can justify having that person on my “friend’s list. Mike Stup’s sister, likewise, issued a “friend request” to me. What? I did a magic show at her 9th birthday, I think, but since then I’m pretty sure I haven’t had a conscious thought about her. And now she wants to be friends? I’m sorry, but that’s just a little weird to me. No disrespect to little Mal, I’m sure she’s wonderful and that we’d be bff’s someday. But we need to work on our relationship a little bit to get to that point.
The only reason I have a thrice-damned MySpace and Facebook account is to spy on people anyways.
My theory on MySpace is that chicks like to hang out there. They like it because they like to post messages to each other, and use the cutesy li’l graphics like this:
And the only reason guys are on there is, well, ‘cause that’s where all the chicks are hanging out. Someone tell me if I’m wrong.
Facebook seems a bit more adult, but I’m still not quite sure what the point is. And it’s far too closed off for a snoop like me to get anywhere. It has those wacky plug-in applications, but I don’t particularly like that those applications are granted access to your personal data. That’s smells way too fishy for me.
In the end, social networking, for me personally, feels like a solution looking for a problem. I’m not looking to meet people, and I don’t feel like I have a problem staying in touch and having fun with friends… What am I missing?
This didn’t mean to turn into a rant. Oh well. :)
In other news, life is good. Little Allie is my absolute pride and joy. My favorite time of the day is coming home from work and her looking up and seeing me come in the door and giving me a huge smile. Melts my heart every time. She’s at a really fun age right now, where she’s interactive, but manageable, and not out of control or totally headstrong and willful. Her newest hobbies included shaking her head back and forth (as if she’s say “NoooOOOoooOOo!”), banging things together to make noise, and making strange guttural noises. Good times.
5 comments:
I have to say that I agree with your Facebook and MySpace elitism. You should run for President.
Kidding.
I actually agree with you. I have neither Facebook nor MySpace page because I figure that I already keep in touch with the people from my life that I want to keep in touch with (which is another reason I'll probably never attend a school reunion of any sort.)
While I'd like to know how many people I went to high school with are now living in a trailer, eating Tater Tots and thinking that "Two and a Half Guys" is great TV, that doesn't mean I want to hold discussions with them. (Or them with me, for that matter.)
Gwen
I'm with you.
I don't have a myspace page or a facebook account and dont plan on it. I do have a linkedin account and it annoys me. I only go there when someone asks me to link to them.
yea social networking is hit or miss I guess. I'll admit I mostly have mine because I feel like I have to. I'm not sure how fulfilling the whole experience is.
I will say this though:
"In the end, social networking, for me personally, feels like a solution looking for a problem. I’m not looking to meet people, and I don’t feel like I have a problem staying in touch and having fun with friends… What am I missing?"
In the end you ARE a part of a social networking site via Yahoo's groups, which got started before all the crazy myspace, friendster, and facebook stuff.
I suspect that had we all graduated college a few years later we'd be totally entrenched in one of those sites with all the chicks.
-E
Hilarious.
Adam, between this and cell phones, you are old before your time...there I said it.
Interesting comments. I will say that I hated myspace (HATED), but think Facebook is OK (thank God they don't allow music to play on people's pages - shudder). The "viral marketing" (Fwats' terms) of the applications is a little disconcerting - I definitely agree there. I think the real benefit is in pictures - you can see what people are up to, etc. In terms of writing on people's walls and such - I agree again. I'm not a big fan.
In the end, though, is it really any different than a sort of standardized blog, which are essentially social networking tools as well?
And lastly Adam, be careful. The friendship of Mallory, like Saruman, is not easily cast aside. If you find yourself swirling centrifugally in a marble tower one day, your head bloodied and bashed, having just been schooled in an epic wizard fight with my sister, well let's just hope a weird moth looking thing happens by so you can whisper to it and later escape on a giant eagle.
I’m no conspiracy theorist, but I’m beginning to get even more dubious about Facebook’s information gathering.
For example, I see that Eryn just added a “hatching eggs” application. I don’t know what this wacky thing is, but I just went to add it. When you click to add it, it says “Hey, this application wants to do the following things…” and one of those things is “Know who I am and access my information”. Unchecking this box brings up another box that says you MUST grant this application access to your data, or you can’t add it. I didn’t add it.
So, you’re granting some third party app access to everything you’ve posted on Facebook. Most people post quite a bit of information: political leanings, favorite movies and books, education history, hometown. Who wrote it? What will they do with your information? Exactly why do they need to know everything about you?
Post a Comment