So the other day, I was talking to my journalism professor about social media and all that jazz. We were basically discussing that social networking is anything but social. If you're confused, not to worry. I have an example.
You ever been in a room with a bunch of your friends and its dead silent because all of you are on your phones? And even though you're all in the same room, instead of engaging each other in conversation, you like each others Facebook statuses or retweet something funny they said. That, my friends, is called antisocial networking. But it goes a step further than that.
You ever get mad at someone and unfriend them? If you have, let me be the first to congratulate you on your stupidity. If you're confused about why you're stupid, not to worry. I have an explanation.
Facebook and twitter and instagram and all that other stuff isn't real life. And sure, it can be a window into your real life, to an extent. But if you feel compelled to unfriend everyone that upsets you, you're doing it wrong for two reasons. One, that means that you probably put everything on the internet and since you're kicking whoever out of your life and you display your ENTIRE life on the internet, you now have to block this person from your Facebook and twitter and whatever the hell else. But you're actually the fool for displaying your entire life online. Nobody needs to know when you're at the dentist getting your wisdom tooth pulled and exactly what dentist you go to because nobody actually gives a shit.
Two, you're letting the unfriendee/blockee know how much you're thinking about them. Think about it like this. If you hate someone, you still care. It takes a lot more energy to hate a person than to genuinely not give a shit. I think the same applies to social networking. You have to really piss me off for me to search through my friends to pull up your profile and look for the damn unfriend button that somehow, conveniently, is always in fine print (which is some bullshit, btw). And then when you finally realize that I've done all this, you'll know how much I was thinking about whatever you did to piss me off. And you know what your response will be? I'll give you a hint: it isn't anger. Why, you ask? Because, I repeat, NOBODY gives a shit. It actually provides for a great amount of laughter at your expense. Needless to say, from the looks of this rant, I'm laughing at quite a few people right now. So thanks. I definitely needed that laugh.