They say that the world is becoming smaller with each new technological advance. Sometimes, I wonder if that's a good thing or not. We have Facebook, Twitter, and all kinds of networking sites that are supposed to be able to connect us to a large aray of people... yet, everyday as I go on Facebook and observe how people act, it becomes more and more obvious to me, that we haven't made the world any smaller. We've only continued the isolation that was always apparent.
People are like cattle and sheep... we run and operate in our own private little herds and tribes. Take Facebook, for example. Yesterday, Facebook initiated new privacy settings that make it easier to privatize certain things on your page. You should see what people are privatizing. Photos of themselves, their "friends" list, their religious and political views, etc. It's their Facebook page and I suppose they are free to do with it as they wish, but I don't understand the concept of networking, meeting, and socializing with other people on Facebook if you're going to keep everything about yourself hidden.
There are some people on Facebook who I wonder why they are even on it. These folks are anti-social in the "real world". They don't socialize, they don't go anywhere, and they are scared to death of anyone knowing anything about them. If you look at their page, their are no photos and little to no information about them. I believe they are only on this site because it's the new fad, the new "in thing " to do.
Then, you have the folks who take themselves just a little too serious. They have "friends" but their friends are part of the clique that they were running with to begin with. They have no outside friends and no interest in meeting or socializing with anyone they didn't previously know. They make their page so private that nobody can find them. Again, what is the point? You don't need Facebook or Twitter... you need your small room or a jail cell. You also have people who are just "friending" people to be "friending" them. These folks have 3,000+ "friends" who they don't know and who they can't possibly keep up with. For them, this shows how popular they are to the world.
All of these people scare me. Just by looking at how they manage their page, I can get a good idea of how these people operate in the "real " world. I don't want to win any popularity contests... been there, done that. I don't wish to isolate myself from the world in fear either. I'm looking for a soft place in between the madness.
I know that there are bad people out there who take information, steal identities, and what have you. I wouldn't advise people to publish their social security number, home address, or place of business. But you have people who won't tell you their date of birth, who are afraid to write whether they are a Democrat or Republican, a Baptist or a Seventh Day Adventist. I find the whole thing quite strange.
Isn't this America? A democracy where you don't have to be afraid of expressing your beliefs? You would think so. Yet, some employers do look at people's Facebook pages and decide on who they will or will not hire (and, in some cases, fire) based on something they might have written on that page. Apparently, the First Amendment is fiction or bedtime reading to them, which is why people hide so much about who they really are.
What's really frightening, as well as hypocritical, is that Americans are always trying to tell some other country that they should be "free" and that they should have a democracy... while everyday, little by little, we are becoming less free ourselves and appear to be going along with it.
When did we get so scared, paranoid, and mistrustful of each other? When did we get so self-absorbed, self-important, and thus, so isolated from anybody who we don't know? How do we get to know other people or are we even interested in knowing other people who might be different from us?
The world isn't really getting smaller... some of us have just found a new way to make it more isolated.
People are like cattle and sheep... we run and operate in our own private little herds and tribes. Take Facebook, for example. Yesterday, Facebook initiated new privacy settings that make it easier to privatize certain things on your page. You should see what people are privatizing. Photos of themselves, their "friends" list, their religious and political views, etc. It's their Facebook page and I suppose they are free to do with it as they wish, but I don't understand the concept of networking, meeting, and socializing with other people on Facebook if you're going to keep everything about yourself hidden.
There are some people on Facebook who I wonder why they are even on it. These folks are anti-social in the "real world". They don't socialize, they don't go anywhere, and they are scared to death of anyone knowing anything about them. If you look at their page, their are no photos and little to no information about them. I believe they are only on this site because it's the new fad, the new "in thing " to do.
Then, you have the folks who take themselves just a little too serious. They have "friends" but their friends are part of the clique that they were running with to begin with. They have no outside friends and no interest in meeting or socializing with anyone they didn't previously know. They make their page so private that nobody can find them. Again, what is the point? You don't need Facebook or Twitter... you need your small room or a jail cell. You also have people who are just "friending" people to be "friending" them. These folks have 3,000+ "friends" who they don't know and who they can't possibly keep up with. For them, this shows how popular they are to the world.
All of these people scare me. Just by looking at how they manage their page, I can get a good idea of how these people operate in the "real " world. I don't want to win any popularity contests... been there, done that. I don't wish to isolate myself from the world in fear either. I'm looking for a soft place in between the madness.
I know that there are bad people out there who take information, steal identities, and what have you. I wouldn't advise people to publish their social security number, home address, or place of business. But you have people who won't tell you their date of birth, who are afraid to write whether they are a Democrat or Republican, a Baptist or a Seventh Day Adventist. I find the whole thing quite strange.
Isn't this America? A democracy where you don't have to be afraid of expressing your beliefs? You would think so. Yet, some employers do look at people's Facebook pages and decide on who they will or will not hire (and, in some cases, fire) based on something they might have written on that page. Apparently, the First Amendment is fiction or bedtime reading to them, which is why people hide so much about who they really are.
What's really frightening, as well as hypocritical, is that Americans are always trying to tell some other country that they should be "free" and that they should have a democracy... while everyday, little by little, we are becoming less free ourselves and appear to be going along with it.
When did we get so scared, paranoid, and mistrustful of each other? When did we get so self-absorbed, self-important, and thus, so isolated from anybody who we don't know? How do we get to know other people or are we even interested in knowing other people who might be different from us?
The world isn't really getting smaller... some of us have just found a new way to make it more isolated.
8 comments:
DAMN KEITH, Tell em why you mad!
Great Post,I couldn't agree more.
You hit a home run with this one brother!
Points well taken!Good Post!
Wow, you must have been reading my mind.
Once again, you're right at the pulse of our cultural divide. Good Post.
I'm on Facebook, as you know, but I haven't really taken to it. I initially only got a page because a blogger friend sent me something that could only be viewed if I had a page. I don't even know all the functionality that exists.
I prefer blogger. I like the thorough exchange of thoughts and ideas to the quick jiblets of chatter. I have come across a few interesting items on Facebook, but not many. I can understand why it was primarily popular with the younger age group when it first hit the scene. My two daughters in their twenties still think its whack that I have a Facebook page.
On another note: Come join me at my spot for the 12 Days of Rich House Christmas.
I so agree with you, although i'm not on FACEBOOK, just couldn't do it. I am on TWITTER, but not very much...and in some way i'm beginning to think it's just stupid, smh. I prefer blogging, and my blog fam, even though there are also blog cliques as well, it's not thrown in your face everyday. Good post Keith.
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