All right. So now that I have deleted my Facebook and have had all week to show everyone what led me to that decision (see "On leaving the Social Network"), I am now able to blog a little more often about things that I feel are important for me to explain in depth.
This post is basically about my struggle in overcoming some of the main problems in my life. I know this sounds boring as all get out, but I feel like it's something I need to get off of my chest.
Issue 1: Trying to be open-minded while still maintaining my values - I am tempted to say that this is a very common problem with many people. When it comes to virtually no-win topics like abortion, religion, and politics, it doesn't pay to be a fence-sitter. You have people on both sides of the fence that want to shoot you for not joining their side. Basically, if you are not for them then you are against them. I actually hate this mentality because of the simple fact that BOTH sides normally tell you to be "open-minded" when they, in fact are displaying the exact opposite of what they are urging you to be while still trying to play it off as if it is what they say. Why do I hate open-mindedness? Because to be consistently open-minded is to be close-minded to having a solid opinion. Has anyone ever thought about that?
Issue 2: Trying to get others to understand the ACTUAL reason for social networking - The reason I left Facebook, as detailed in my last post, is that the original meaning of the site has been lost among almost all of its users, possibly including Zuckerburg himself. Social media has become more of a place to house one's personal life than it is to connect with someone you know. Why do I say that? There are so many examples around the internet that I couldn't even begin to cite. Example: "It was nice to see you at my birthday party last night, but did you have to take a picture of me doing a kegstand and post it on Facebook?"
The fact that younger members are even allowed in the first place, to me, is a big factor of a lot of the problems that politicians and hollywood figures alike campaign about. A big example is cyber bullying. While it's doubtful that childhood bullying will ever truly go away, it has been enabled and stimulated by the easy access that children and younger (sometimes older) teens have to the internet. It was easier to stifle in the days of dial up when one couldn't stay online for very long due to having tied up the phone lines. In those days, television addiction was still a prime campaign handle for many politicians. Now that times have changed and more can have better and faster access to the internet, television addiction has all but disappeared. Few even mention it anymore.
Being on a social networking site in which it is improbable to be able to track another's every move without standing directly over them allows others to be able to put on an anonymous front while feeling that they have the right to say things that would normally get them confronted in the real world. These "cyber-bullies", as they are commonly referred to, are known to most of the real world as "cowards", though it's notable that almost everyone who has spent a significant amount of time on the internet has resorted to getting "hot with the keyboard" at one point in time, if not many times. Don't believe me? Yahoo! article comment boards are a good starting (if not ending) place to find plenty of people who claim to be "mature adults" slinging mud and throwing unnecessary insults to people that they have never seen and probably never will. Imagine how many of these "mature adults" also roam social networking sites like Facebook and pass their influence onto the younger users. Scary thought, isn't it?
- To be continued.
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