Social Networking is like Voyeurism Only Without the Excitement.

To put it bluntly: Social Networking is fucking creepy.

No seriously, think about it. 30 years ago nobody had cell phones. If you called their house and they didn't answer, you were just out of luck. Or maybe you actually went to their house to see what they were up to. Perhaps you actually communicated face to face for a while. My grandparents aren't Luddites, but you might be inclined to think they were. They had the internet for a while and then ditched it. They never use their cell phone. It's not that they don't understand new technology, they just don't have a need for it.

We tend to assume that old people wish they knew how to operate these newfangled gadgets. The opposite of that is that they just don't need any of this crap. Ah ha! Imagine that.

So I find myself wondering whether I need the internet, or my computer, or Myspace, or Twitter, or whatever. I used to be addicted to Facebook. I seriously checked it all the time. I realized one day that all I ever did with Facebook was look at stupid pictures of drunk people I went to high school with. So I deactivated my account and now I call people. or text them. or run into them. or whatever, but it feels real! Real spontaneous encounters, almost as if God directed us into each others paths! Marvelous. I enjoy the disconnect. It's nice hunting people down, it's nice not knowing what they're doing or thinking or whatever.

Probably most importantly, it's nice to get disconnected. I like knowing that only the people I want in my life can keep tabs on me. My life isn't some voyeur show. Some random person will not be alerted when I start dating someone or make a new friend, no only the people I tell will know. I like that. I like being able to start fresh and clean. I like not having an internet persona.

In a weird way, I think Blogs are a nice alternative. I get to write long winded passages about bullshit for other writers. Cool. Here's my rhetoric and my thoughts, sans personal information and all kinds of other weird stuff.

Honestly I think twitter is probably the coolest thing out there. You can have little conversations and whatever, but it just get's people connected. Twitter's like an eye catcher and then you have a real or conversation. Or maybe you just check facebook again. who knows?