My Mini Social Experiment Part 1 of 2



I'm letting my daughter write my blog today.  Here she is: 

I'm ready to delete my facebook account lol...seriously...facebook can be soooo destructive on so many levels to the users and the onlookers etc...

The kid that offed himself "due to facebook"...that's a little extreme...but I think it's become a platform that is a little too much of an open book...and yes I'm guilty of having one at the moment...but I was trying it out as a sort of "social experiment"; to see how deep one could fall down the rabbit hole, before turning back...

The sheer fact of foursquare alone...if I wasn't out of town and didn't have fb locked...that could be a downright bloody nightmare waiting to happen to ANYONE lol...or am I just being paranoid Molly again? :)  

I don't remember where it was that I saw it the other day...but someone had written a joke like...It used to be "...can I have your number..." and now it's "...do you have Facebook?"  It really does seem to take out the whole "getting to know someone" factor as well as kill the chance at having meaningful conversation with someone.

People just post or blast everything in their personal life on status updates down to updates like "Dude, I so just farted really loud!" - yes you people KNOW who you are lol..(Did you know there's actually a website out there people can go to where they can post pictures of their bowel movements each day and compare them to others and decipher what it looks like or means with the pictures - OMG!!!!! LOL...to the extreme of a complete narrative of their day...so then when you get on the phone with someone, you are more or less discussing..."Hey I saw on your facebook..." or "What did you mean by .... on your facebook...?" lol... 

It's at the point where we have become so involved with blasting our checkins and status updates and photos to the world through facebook, and twitter, and foursquare, and myspace, etc etc etc...that I think we are actually losing human to human contact and interaction.  The same thing goes with text messaging.  People are more likely it seems to tell you how they "REALLY FEEL" over a text message, rather than having the courage to say it over the phone, let alone god forbig omg - YOUR FACE! haha.  I'm almost wondering if there are people out there that are meeting people online, having "relationships" (if that's what you want to call them), and then breaking up over text or facebook or an email without ever actually meeting the person in person.  

Personally...I think facebook is a great way to express yourself and leave a piece of yourself on the internet.  However, with that said...I literally meant a piece - not your entire self as an open book.  It takes the fun out of getting to know someone and leaves the lines of communication grainy and fuzzy.  I know when I was in high school people used to say I was totally outgoing online and so quiet in person....which goes to prove my theory of having guts behind an iphone or a computer screen.  Eye contact can make a world of difference and also give you more insight into whether the person is true or not.

You can be knee deep in PMS rage and bitchiness with tears flash flooding down your blotchy face, but post a fb status that you're "...sitting on the Jersey Shore enjoying the beautiful sun with the girls..." and load that status up with a bunch of smiley faces or "Emoji Icons" and people will actually think you are happy when they are stalking your fb status.  Or someone can text you and tick you off and instead of dealing with the situation, you can say "It's fine or I'm fine" and again load up with Emoji Icons and the person on the receiving end would never know otherwise.  It may seem like a quick easy fix and a great way to hide your emotions, but if people want lasting relationships or friendships in their life...at some point they are going to have to come out from behind their iphones and computer screens and actually share a real cup of coffee with a person.  

At any rate...if people keep up this way...on an extreme level...the population would start to decline because you can't make babies with an iphone in your hand or by cybering with someone on the internet lol...trust me people - the real thing is a LOT better lol...(disclaimer: only if you are of a mature age and in a committed loving, trusting, healthy, relationship and of sound mind and have the wisdom to know the consequences of your actions and the knowledge and responsibility to use protection - blah blah blah lol - sorry for the birds and the bees talk, but I realized not everyone on my facebook is 18 years or older lol).  

P.S.  I'm all about unwinding and catching up on other people's lives or snooping on gossip...but what are we actually gaining from posting and reading about people we haven't even seen in 10 years and most likely didn't even socialize with in high school or elementary school for that matter???  I'm almost curious if we are losing IQ points by reading these fragments on an hourly basis.  Does your day really feel incomplete unless you check the twitter status of Ashton Kutcher before you get out of bed and go to bed each day?  Does it really make you feel that much better to add a friend just to see if they got ugly since high school? Okay, well maybe that does...but hopefully you guys get my drift. :)

More to come later....



2 comments:

Unknown said...

I am working through the whole social networking with my kids right now...and...what is too much info!

Anonymous said...

You sure summed it up for me! Great job and thanks for posting it!