In the midst of this week's craziness, I had to take a moment and post this Washington Post article: Keeping up with Social Networking Sites: How much is enough?
An excerpt:
"There's so much social networking she has not yet accomplished... It's nagging me."
At some big or small level, it's nagging all of the people who are mired enough in social networking to bother following the latest developments. This isn't everyone -- despite the fact that institutions from your local radio station to your dry cleaner beg you to follow them on Twitter, there are whole swaths of people who just don't give a flying friend request.
But consider this: At one point in their centuries-old history, the Amish were not the technological relics they are today. Everyone else was churning and buggying right along with them. At some point, electricity was invented and the Amish had to reject it. Cars were invented and they took a pass. We're good with the buggy, they said. Motor on without us.
Now, in an onslaught of sites designed to aid connection, communication and cross-promotion, individual stopping points must be declared. When will you go 21st-century Amish?"
So, when will YOU go 21st-century Amish?
I'm definitely on my way to stepping back from all the social networking! I deactivated my Facebook for one week to focus on my school work and I found I had so much more time to devote to more important things. I think one day there will be too many social networking sites and big players like Facebook won't be as popular as it is today. The popularity will dwindle like it has for Myspace.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I am growing out of social networking sites. I had Sconex in middle school, Myspace in high school, and Facebook for my Temple years. I'm graduating in May and I feel once I begin "the rest of my life" social networking sites won't be nearly as important to me as they used to be.
ReplyDeleteThe same thing happened with video games. Wen I was younger I went from Sega Genesis all the way up to Nintendo's GameCube. That's my stopping point, I don't feel the need for wii or any of these newer game consoles. Also, with cell phones, now cell phones are becoming obsolete. Everyone has to have a "smartphone."
My parents are baby boomers, therefore I'm a little old fashioned and traditional. My parents always make comments like "you kids and your technology." My parents aren't the type to text, email, or have a Facebook or Twitter account.
I personally would get more satisfaction out of experiencing REAL LIFE rather than indulge in SNS.
I think that I will stop using SNS as soon as my friends do. I got my Facebook, Myspace, and Xanga because everyone else had one. I don't find that to be necessarily a bad thing in anyway though. These SNS don't function unless they become a trend- if all my friends didn't have one, there would be no point in my signing on to a communication website if i had no one to communicate with. I also do not spend an overwhelming amount of time on these sites, and I don't feel as though they prevent me from doing anything because I have one.
ReplyDeleteAlso, a side note. We have talked about so many SNS in class, however, I have never heard anyone talk about Xanga- this surprised me because this was something that all my friend had in middle school. However, I didn't hear of anyone have 'friendster'. Clearly, SNS can be regional.