By now practically everyone, including their Grandma Claire, has had some sort of experience with the internet-based behemoth of social networking. Try as we might, there's no escaping its vast and invasive reach into our daily lives, from the workplace to the movie theater to, ultimately, our very own living rooms. Over the past several years, the phenomenon has shown us so much about our virtues as a collective species (from social drives to cure cancer, end homelessness and starvation and recovering missing individuals), and revealed the worst examples of social barbarism imaginable (incessant social "trolling"/baiting, group suicides, "cyber stalking", etc.). One major issue to arise, too, is the isolation of families the world over. Where there was once direct interaction between family members, there is now a rift created by the convenience of logging into our cyber worlds and disconnected from those around us. There is the irresistible opportunity to craft a persona that is what we wish and long to be, but is far from the individual behind the facade.
There's an enabling of the ego, a pandering to self not seen since the perversely decadent era of Nero thousands upon thousands of years ago. A bizarre need to gain acceptance through the most outrageous of behavior, on an epic stage the size of which no man has known before. Sure, there are benefits to these services, chiefly the ability to remain in contact with those who passed out of our lives years prior without so much as a hint as to their whereabouts; organization of (predominantly positive) social/familial functions at the click of a mouse; conversations with old school chums that we've lost touch with due to uncontrollable circumstances in one's life, etc. However, the negatives far outweigh the positives, and if these issues aren't addressed sooner as opposed to later, this entire "social renaissance" could very well blow up in our faces. I'm not above its detrimental influences, so by no means am I trying to put a damper on those addicted or reliant upon these services. Conversely, I'm trying to be a voice of reason.
With the increasing dependence upon social networks, we've also begun to see an inundation of choices: over-saturation and overexposure are never a good thing. They can, in many regards, prove detrimental. The disconnection from ourselves and those around us can be hastened by the constant influx of information, no matter how trivial or inconsequential it may prove. One way to create a social zombie is to overload them with all things social, all things extraneous. Games, music, celebrity gossip. Constantly bombard them with things that interest their "lower selves" and deprive them of that which enriches and empowers them builds the ultimate slave, eternally indentured to their desires. They will give their all to be entertained, forsake their freedoms for the pursuit of instant gratification. This is one of countless reasons that we should, at the very least, allow for a sabbatical from these institutions -- so that we can reacquaint ourselves with our essence, reacquaint ourselves with our humanity.
I had a huge aversion to social networking, particularly during its embryonic period. With the advent of sites such as Myspace.com, StumbleUpon and LinkedIn, I initially perceived them as though they were a strange, twenty-first century take on ego pandering. I'd often jokingly refer to it as "e-Pandering", to the dismay of my contemporaries. I recognized them as a tool for manipulators to further manipulate their prey, and also as a means for those in power to acquire information on those who frequented them on a regular basis. I felt justified in my skepticism, and rightfully so when account after account on Myspace was compromised, either by amateur hackers looking for a laugh or sophisticated scam artists looking for a quick buck. Eventually, over the course of the next four or five years, I noticed that these services were beginning to proliferate into every facet of our existence. From monitoring our travels to how we spent our leisurely time, there was a website or mobile application for socializing and connecting individuals in those situations. It was nightmarish, because I knew that eventually I'd be made to visit and join one of these social media conglomerates. It was just a matter of time.
Fast forward to two thousand and eight. Twitter is gaining steam as one of the hottest social media sites around, and most everyone I knew had created an account on the burgeoning network. My mother, being the avid portable gamer that she is, was even railroaded into creating an account to measure her progress in one particular title. I figured this to be a ludicrous breach of privacy, and I begged and pleaded with her to delete her account, to no avail. She was heavily into the game, and she'd hear nothing of it. She was acclimated to the age of the social network and didn't mind one iota that her gaming information was being sent, by the millisecond, to some data center thousands of miles away, accumulating information on her every virtual step. Then, irony struck. I'd been bitten by the bug. I had betrayed my beliefs, my convictions. I joined the "social revolution". One of my friends, whom I hadn't spoken to in quite a while, sent me an e-mail inquiring as to why I hadn't joined Facebook or Twitter in order to keep up with them. Although I didn't directly allude to my apprehension in providing these services with my personal information, I did oblige them and say that I'd "consider it", and we ended the conversation amicably.
Facebook, even in its infancy, had become infamous for its various maverick policies regarding user privacy, so it was out of the question. Twitter, on the other hand, looked appealing. A "microblogging service for the avid social networker" was how it was being proposed to the masses, and as a weblogger it looked relatively promising. I decided to give it the old college try and found myself liking the simplicity and ease of what I figured to be yet another site that would fold within six, seven months' time. I soon discovered, however, that I was becoming a self-absorbed, blathering idiot who was further isolating myself from the "real" world by posting about my every qualm with life, from my inability to cook the perfect souffle to how my mother and I had gotten into the argument to end all arguments. Personal information that shouldn't be revealed or known to anyone but to the parties involved. Dark broodings that are better kept to oneself. I found myself disconnecting, telling the story of someone that I quickly found unrecognizable. Narcissistic. Brash, without care as to how I was seen by those outside of my inner-circle. I began losing followers because of my emotionally-driven ramblings, some that I grew to know as good friends. I allowed my highly immature, constant need for attention ruin the "fun" of the experience. I, ultimately, permitted the wolves to slaughter the sheep.
It's this schizophrenic dichotomy that gave rise to this editorial, or more appropriately, this tangent. Though social networks are a sign of the times, and given our mile-a-second world, a necessity in some ways, they're also a catalyst for many new ills within our society. Within this sickness, the further isolation of our humanity comes into being. We're losing ourselves within the digital machine, facsimiles of ourselves without face or without origin. A number, a screen name. A voiceless voice. By promoting one of the very things that makes us human, we are destroying and disrespecting our humanity by perverting it into a faux approximation steeped in self. A contrivance that feeds off of our fallacies instead of admonishing them. I still have a Twitter account and I still reveal far too much about myself. I take more caution as to what I reveal, but I think that if we're going to progress as a people -- as a society -- we're going to have to leave our communicative devices and laptops by the wayside, if only for a moment, and begin that long, arduous journey towards reconnecting with one another.
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