Anti Social Media
I'll just say it: I don't like the so-called "social media" aspects of the current Internet. Maybe it's because I've been engaged in online communities for more than twenty years; maybe it's because I'm a misanthrope. I don't use -- nor do I have any interest in -- Digg, Facebook, LinkedIn, LiveJournal, MySpace, Reddit, or whatever other "social networking" sites are currently in vogue. I'm not particularly interested in meeting new people through these venues, and I'm extremely wary of the so-called "value" they provide. I have my blog, and I'm satisfied with it.
There is a very rigid limit to my capacity for continuous partial attention, so I am extremely conscious about adding new things to follow. I intentionally limit the number of email lists to which I subscribe. I'm very selective about the feeds I add to my news reader. I'm even more selective about who I follow on Twitter; and I refuse to participate in more than one microblogging solution; so Jaiku and Pownce and Tumblr and whatever else is out there are right out.
I recently attended the first Columbus TweetUp, at which Columbus Twitter users had an opportunity to meet one another face-to-face. I felt a bit like an odd-man-out at this gathering in part because many of the attendees seemed to know one another already; but mostly because I wasn't following any of them on Twitter, nor was I likely to do so. I'm simply not interested in reading the goings-on of a dozen or more people just because they happen to live in the same city as me. The (very) occasional gem of insight I might glean from following one or more of them would be almost instantly drowned out in the noise of constant updates and replies to one another.
Don't get me wrong: I'm glad that these folks find Twitter (and similar services) so useful. I'm glad that they've found a way to extend their network of contacts. It's just that for me, it's too overwhelming. Maybe it's the pessimist in me, but I often approach signing up to receive quantities of new information from the "coming back from vacation" point of view. When I come back from vacation, is this stuff going to overwhelm me? Am I going to simply delete huge swaths of this stuff if I get too far behind on it? If so, why am I paying attention to it to begin with? Or maybe I'm simply too mercenary about the matter, looking for what benefit their Twittering and blogging will provide to me. Or maybe I really am just anti-social and not particularly interested in what folks have to say if I don't have an existing meaningful connection to them in some capacity (which begs the question: how do I establish said meaningful relationships with new folks?).
At the TweetUp I did have a very nice conversation with Denise. This was in part due to the seating arrangements -- she was the only person near me who wasn't already engaged in conversation with someone else -- but it was also due to a variety of similarities we share. It was nice to make an acquaintance, and I even started following her on Twitter when I got back to my computer. Thankfully, she updates as infrequently as I do, so I'm not drowning in updates I'm uninterested in reading.
It's ironic that I'm so ambivalent about local technology users communicating with one another, but so enthusiastic about global communications and the wonderful experiences it creates.
You make a good point. Perhaps that's why every social networking app is replaced by another so fast - it's a matter of information overload.
Already I'm hearing anti-twitter rumblings, and the anti-facebook and anti-myspace is already starting (of course, anti-tribenet, anti-friendster, and anti-whateverelse was around hasn't stopped.)
I think I've been using twitter and facebook more since I havent blogged in what seems like months due to stalker issues. I use twitter under a new ID, and Facebook is mainly made up of (much younger) contacts I've made in a "more professional" setting.
I get it. You like the *idea* of people, but not the actual *reality* of people. You know, the old fashioned carbon-based kind. It's cool. Perhaps there's an island in 2nd Life that might be more up your alley? If following people online is painful for you, you shouldn't expect an in-person encounter to be much more pleasant. Take care.
You're not antisocial at all man, I get like this all the time too (which is why i'm not on twitter and other such too).
So, your approach is mercenary, whose isnt?
I think one must be kind of suspect of anything that involves the workd "tweet" in it.
Miss Anthope: I don't think I ever claimed that meeting people online is painful. I find it interesting that that's the conclusion you'd draw. I'm just left scratching my head as to why I'd start following people on Twitter just because I had a group lunch with them; or because they live in the same city as me. What do I get out of it? How does it improve my life? How does it improve their lives?
My buddy just joined Facebook, for reasons that he can't quite articulate. If it's just because "everyone else is doing it" then the so-called value of connecting to people is diminished, since you're connecting primarily to people with whom you're already connected.
As for Second Life: thanks, but no thanks. I'm still trying to master this one. :)
I for one could go on and on about my views on this topic, like everyone else, so I'll stick with a passage from Walden that kinda captures one of the many aspects of this discussion:
"Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys…Men think that it is essential that the Nation have commerce, and export ice, and talk through a telegraph, and ride thirty miles per hour…We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas, but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate."
- Henry David Thoreau, 'Walden', 1854
...ul, and citrusy. I sat enjoying the design much longer than I should have… And some feel very ambivalent about all the social networking. I’ve been getting in the groove of facebook- I think that is the easiest and most valuable a...