I have never been this social in my life.
Growing up, I was always the guy that sat at home watching TV on Friday and Saturday nights, while all the other cool kids were off at their lavish parties. Or hanging out somewhere deep in the woods so the cops wouldn't find them drinking or smoking or whatever else high school kids do. I guess it would have been nice to crash one of these shindigs, but that wasn't me. I had friends, just not the kind that hung out beneath the water tower. That didn't happen until college, not that there was a water tower, but there always seemed to be a keg somewhere.
Even then though I wasn't one to share my inner most thoughts, I am a guy after all. Most conversations revolved around beer, babes, and basketball. Yeah we were cool. Hanging out usually meant watching Sportscenter or playing Sega Hockey (NHLPA '94 still remains the best game ever made in my eyes). That was the extent of our social lives.
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| Go tell it on the mountain! |
It seems that most of my "friends" now exist solely online. I think I have shared more here in the past year than I have in my 38 years on Earth.
Twitter is now like a bar, where I can pull up a stool and start a conversation with anyone, a real conversation. I have met so many amazing and interesting people from all over the world that seem to be just like me. Finding a support group has been awesome. It can get pretty lonely being a stay at home dad. Sure there are groups out there with actual live fleshy people, but it takes a huge effort and a lot of travel to do that. Twitter has become somewhat of a refuge me, and I can count on it to take away some of the loneliness.
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| Not so sure I would give it a thumbs up |
Facebook is very different. I don't know what is real or not there. It seems like people only post when they are having a super awesome day or are taking a trip. I don't even know that half the people I'm friends with are alive until they go on vacation. Then it seems that they won't stop posting about what an amazing time they are having, checking into great restaurants and sharing pictures of their kids with oversized stuffed animals. Then there are those groups of people that take a road trip somewhere and constantly post pictures of each other. You know the only people that care about those pictures are the people you are with. Have a conversation with THEM instead of telling US about your conversation.
Everything is social nowadays.
There are social readers that tell everyone what you are reading. Seriously, are we supposed to read together? I thought that was something limited to bedtime between me and my boys. There are photo apps that share all of our greatest photos. I am on Instagram, but I only take pictures, if you choose to follow me that's great, but I can't reciprocate. It's too time consuming.
Of course there are a million other social media venues that I haven't mentioned including Google+. I was told that this was awesome but it seems that the only people that are on there are people that I already talk to on Twitter and Facebook. How many different places can I talk to the same people? How many different places can suck time away from something that I should be doing elsewhere? Maybe I should go back into my room and watch TV?
To find out what I am doing next* you can follow me at one of these places:
*I will most likely be mowing the lawn
I am glad that I am following you on twitter. Thanks for being there.
ReplyDeleteI can totally relate to everything in this post - both the positive and the criticisms. I was a little more social as a teenager but as far as feelings, I was like a statue. For some reason, since going "social" I've opened up and I have to admit it feels good. I'm not near as lonely and I've made friends (like you) that I feel closer to than any of my fleshy friends.
ReplyDeleteFunny, I just got off the phone w/a high school friend who moved away. He was curious about who I've seen or talked to. I told him no one really. Most people I talk to, I talk to w/140 characters.
ReplyDeleteI think I have hit my limits of social media too. I'm on stuff I forgot I was on.
But in this day and age, online friends and interactions are just as important to me as being able to talk to a high school friend.
Glad to be a part of your social media.
The fact that I never actually met most of you is pretty irrelevant. A relationship is a relationship any way that you look at it.
ReplyDeleteStrange how social media brings us closer to strangers and distances us from our friends.
ReplyDeleteI'm just as brilliant elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteI may no longer be a stay at home dad but I know exactly where you come from. My wife has been trying to get me to make some friends for a while now. It is difficult once you reach adulthood to do that.
ReplyDeleteI think you're aces. Can I be your friend? :)
ReplyDeleteMeant to comment on this some time back. Agree that most people ( ME included) are more truthful on twitter than FB. FB sometimes seems like photo albums and news flashes. Wish all my fb friends would just join twitter and limit to 144 characters. When I need entertainment, I find twitter far more interesting. And some of the friends I have made on twitter seem more real than Real ones !
ReplyDeleteWe would rather be left alone on our couch half the time
ReplyDelete