Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Social media -- turning the entire world into one high school.

Over the past day, I've been watching the momblogosphere explode. Long story short, someone wrote something critical about another blogger, that blogger's fans rose up and fired back and as a result, both blogs (and Twitter) exploded in a war that no one except the bloggers' fans will care about.

I'm not even going to get into the issues, or my thoughts about the whole sorry mess. I'll admit to being slightly addicted to it (which is probably why I should go out and get away from the computer for a bit), because it's amazing watching grown-ass adults flip their shit out and start acting like high schoolers.

Now, there are reasonable people on both sides with interesting viewpoints, but I'm amazed how people think that the Internet is license to show your ass. Grown-ass women who are mothers. Who probably tell their kids to be nice and then act all crazy online.

Admittedly, this got me thinking about social media like Twitter and blogs. While some blogs and Twitters are fun to read because they're family and friends (and make long distances seem not so terrible) or they're just amusing writers, it CAN make everything devolve into high school bullshit. After all, the Internet brings us all close and now we can do the "OOOOH! Did you see what X wrote about you?" to someone we hardly know. And apparently, people forget that ANYONE can see this stuff and then are all surprised when word gets around (much like high school gossip).

I'm basically witnessing the equivalent of a burn book -- both sides are snarky and mean-spirited towards each other and hitting post before thinking straight. What's more amusing to me is knowing that these people basically have put their names on this bullshit. What if someone looks up your Twitter and sees you ranting about another person, or calling them names? It might be excusable for a high-school kid (I mean, who hasn't done stupid shit in high school), but a grown-ass adult? Applying for a job? Do these people not realize that if it's on the Internet for the world to see, you can't take this back? That it's the equivalent of taking piss out of a public pool? Do you want this to be what people remember you by?

I know I've said in the past that you can't regulate civility online (by that, I mean you can't create laws or rules for it). But that doesn't mean a person has to devolve online. If we demand civility when we see people face to face, why not extend that courtesy when we post to our blog or comment online?

Lord. Have we lost all our damn minds in the race to be the funniest online? Because the prize for being the snarkiest isn't anything great. You're just an Internet celebrity. And an Internet celebrity pays in Internet dollars and gets you into the hottest Internet clubs.

In other words, it ain't worth shit.

Shoutout to K. -- I'm curious to see your thoughts on this whole mess. Tell me what you think, because I'm starting to think that social media on a wide scale is crap if it means everyone can get up in your business, have an opinion or show their ass all over the place.

AND ANUDDER THING -- WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH ALL THE TWITTER SPAMMERS? If this is what social media is about -- instant requests for friends from people you've never heard of, automatic friend acceptance to someone you've NEVER even talked to or getting spam all over the damn place -- you're never seeing my ass on Facebook or that ilk. If I don't know you, I don't want your friend request. Shove off.

Man. This topic is making me salty.

1 comment:

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