Social Networking

Blogger's note: I now have a Facebook page. This makes the rest of what I have written seem pointless, but I stand by the basic tenets of it, in terms of privacy or a self-imposed lack thereof. Facebook can be a very private thing, shared among close friends and family, but it also demands a certain amount of attention. By deciding to expose more of myself (clear the image from your mind) I have also decided, by extension (please, no "exposed extension" jokes, please), I had more to expose, and I have created an expectation of more exposure, even if it is just to friends and family. Since I don't actually have all that much to expose (again, keep your jokes to yourselves)-- the reason I don't call my mother everday is because I don't feel that I have all the much to say to her specifically-- I find myself "immortalizing the trivial" just to fill up the space. Having said that, I kind of "get it" now, however, I still can't dance.

Welcome to all who got here by clicking on the link found on my lovely wife's Facebook page. For those of you hoping that I will, one day, have a Facebook page of my own, well, that's hope you can't believe in.

I have to admit, as stodgy as it's going to sound, I just can't wrap my head around the popularity of Facebook and MySpace. I'm a deeply personal person, and while I am perfectly willing to share my thoughts (anonymous and over-claused as they are) I couldn't imagine telling everyone (even my own family) about the wart I just had removed or that the damned washing machine is acting up or that little Billy* pooped in the dog bowl again.

By immortalizing the extremely trivial, we trivialize immortilazation. Imagine if we'd had to wade through a littany of Shakespere's trials and tribulations ("Little Lord William* hath shat in the curr hound's trough...") to get to "Hamlet." Imagine if we had to read Hamlet's blog posts about Ophelia ("OMG, Ophelia hath totally losteth it!") I could go on and on and on, but I think we can all agree that I've beaten a tired comedic concept to death already.

More fearful, in my eyes, is a generation that is growing up with no secrets, with no expectation of privacy. I would be aghast if the government was behind it; I am terrified that they are doing it to themselves. A person needs that which is his own in order to be; there is an essence of humanity that cries out for some things to be held close, and others to be granted as a gift to those who choose or care to listen.

I'm not saying that Facebook and MySpace are the self-inflicted wounds that caused the death of privacy; I am saying that they are cuts number 889 and 890 in the 1000 cuts of the old saying, I am saying that they join the ranks of the census (every question after "how many people in the house?" is an affront to privacy) the income tax (why, pray tell, does the government have to know who pays me what?) and every government form that has the temerity and gall to ask me if I am white or not.

Have we become so used to telling strangers about our personal lives that we actually invite it now? Is this a final capitulation to the dulling reality that there are no secrets, no personal lives anymore?

Or is this the ultimate homage paid to Andy Warhol's famous 15 minutes quip? Do we all hope that we will say or do something so compelling, or brilliant, or disgusting that we will be remembered by the multitudes, if only for a brief moment? Is being the "Numa, Numa" guy really worth it? Really?

Regardless (and no, I don't care what anyone's motivations are-- the great thing about deep thoughts is that you can generalize and, if you sound intellectual enough, no one cares that you're using the intellectual dodge of stereotyping) I think that this trend is one I will avoid for the forseeable future, if for no other reason than I can't dance.









*Billy or "William" is not my son's name, for those of you that thought you caught me giving personal information. Nyah, nyah.