On the End of Social Networking...
While earning sore thumbs last night with Clark and B (Street Fighter 4 is insane), we started talking about Twitter and how insane it has become.
In fact, you should hear @EazieDuzit and @Clarknyss holla at celebs on Twitter like they live next door...had to get that one in.
It's infectious. The access is undeniable, it's easy, and it's fun. Reminds me of Facebook.
Which reminds me of MySpace.
Which reminds me of BlackPlanet, and it's cousin Mi Gente, which everybody jumped on anyway just to holla at PR women (I outed us)
Which reminds me of Friendster ('02), Classmates.com ('95), and Six Degrees of Separation ('97)
A million sites where people get RE-ACQUAINTED. I remember a time when people were simply ACQUAINTED. We spend so much time talking to the world that our closest friends often get lost in the mix. I'll confess: one of my best friends, "Peepers", I haven't spoken to in over a week. Yesterday I sent ?uestlove from the Roots (@qoolquest) a message saying something to the effect of "haha" or something else useless and patronizing, in response to one of his MILLION useless tweets. Many of us haven't spoken to our own family in some time but have reached out to our "auxiliary" many times this week. I know why. We are working hard to make whatever our dream is relevant to the rest of the world. That's fine, but do keep your relationships of worth ("core") at the forefront. Just a friendly reminder; that's not what this post is about.
Our conversation switched from "what happens after Twitter?" to what happens after SOCIAL NETWORKING PERIOD? I mean, there was life before networking sites (how on Earth did Michael Jackson get famous without the internet? Oh wait...) and this season of our fickle history is certain to end.
WHAT DO YOU THINK is going to happen after social networking? To relationships? When folks have to shake hands and go to lunch again? Catharsis indeed. When is social networking too far? Has a relationship of yours been damaged by (insert site here)? How much is too much? So what happens next??? (Play Nostradamus for a second, but never "NAStradamus")
Pick any of these questions and GO.
posted by CaesarKwest at
4:27 PM
5 Comments:
One of the arguments is that social networking has increased the overall social/psychological morale of people that participate. You feel better when you have more people to talk to. More opps for positive thinking, and LAUGHTER.
On the other hand, less opps for genuine relationships. For me it's a QUALITY V. QUANTITY question. Which do you prefer? Both can be positive and have their place.
In the end, I think it boils down to me having a slight bias against net-exclusive communique. I don't want you to know me for what I'm doing on a random Wednesday. I want you to know me for my work.
Never had any problems on any social networking sites, and I started with Black Planet. Other than the occasional...
"You look better on your BP page than you do in person but Im stuck on this date cuz I told you we were going to eat so were just gonna get fast food cuz I want to get rid of you FAST"
Social networking hasn't taken real relationships and turned them into meaningless internet chit chat. If anything, it has allowed me to reach out to people that I otherwise would never have time to talk to.
We only get in trouble when we think that a social networking relationship can be genuine without some actual real interaction. As far as the fear that scoial networking will replace actual human relationships, I think thats a fear worst case scenario that will in all actuality never happen. Human contact is a basic need so no matter what we are always gonna need it and seek it out. After the novelty of each social networking site wears off it alsays goes back to what we know. Actual human contact.
When telephones came out we were SO scared that people would never visit each other anymore or write letters. Didnt happen
Breev, I hope you're right but...
For an introvert such as myself, I find it easier to avoid picking up the phone/actually going out than simply send a message online (through website or email company of my choosing). Wack, I know, but that's the honest truth.
For me, all of this social networking has become daunting, so I pretty much just keep it at FB and Twitter. I only use myspace now to keep up w/some cousins I don't get to see (that aren't on FB). Largely, it wastes a lot of my time and very little meaningful interaction has occurred on these networks and proliferation of blogs. I've found that the web fosters fake-ness (and some honesty) and that nothing beats a face-to-face (when possible).
Overall, us being attached to our computers for social interaction does diminish real relationships, but only if we let it. Personally, for example, I make it a point to not waste my time on Twitter replying to folks I don't know personally. Yeah, it's interesting to see what ?uesto's doing EVERY SECOND of his day, but I don't know dude and don't really have time to "follow" folks I don't even know. (Sidebar...all this "following" is leading to fewer and fewer leaders in the world IMO.)
All in all, I'd rather have the quality over the quantity and I'm working on doing better on my end to promote that quality. I value greatly being able to keep up w/so many folks but, at the end of the day, I really just need those few I can call or see to sustain me socially. (Plus, about only 10 people read my blogs so, if I depended on that for true social interaction, I'd be a discouraged hermit by now.)
Ok, (are you ready for the contradictory exception) replying to iamdiddy is light-weight acceptable (lol). Some of his posts are rather motivational, but I still don't really expect any kind of reply.
I think that the end of social networks will mean a revival of our ability to communicate with each other on a human level. I think we lost touch having so much technology available to us. We don't talk, we text. Face-to-face communication has been traded in for Tweets, writing on walls and commenting on blogs. We are stunting our own growth by spending more time communicating via our social networks than we do just meeting each other face-to-face. I, for one, hope they die so we can re-train ourselves to relate to the three-dimensional versions of ourselves.
Your post was also a catalyst for me to write somethint that has been on my heart for a while re: our social networks. Check it out if you get a chance:
http://theloudprotestant.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/the-end-of-social-networks/
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