In this day and age, everyone thrives on social media and the networking aspect of it. Sites like the destroyed MySpace, the ever popular Facebook, Twitter, etc people can become closer to friends that they know in life. Friends that they haven't evem met yet. Strangers. Even celebrities and news sources. Twitter seems the best place for that right now, but other social media empires remain a constant in nearly everyone's life.
I look back on my own social networking journey and remember there was a time it was not as important to me. With smartphones plus their ability to have apps constantly linking us to these places 24/7, I have become slightly attached go always being "in the know". The thought of not having, say, a Facebook account actually frightens me despite my desire to delete my account from there atleast for a little while.
I do feel like I'm doing this wrong. I do feel like I should not be as attached as I am. It is probably because I am nearly unemployed with nothing to do a majority of the time. When I'm busy and keep moving then I'm not as dependent on my cell phone and staying connected. It's one of the reasons I throw myself into this daily hunt for a job. My current "job" allows me to be on my cell phone, but I would really like a job where I would not be allowed my phone and could get away from social networking for the day.
I have over 17,000 tweets on Twitter. This actually seems surprisingly low to me because I tweet way too often for my tastes. I hope (and constantly think that I am) not getting on my 508 followers nerves. I try not to care about follower numbers, but I secretly (not so secret anymore, huh) want to have over 1000.
With tumblr I feel the most open. I only have a handful of followers and I don't have a cohesive theme to my "blog". I enjoy the pictures that pop up on my dashboard. But, even there, I just don't feel I can be entirely open. Like I'm being watched.
With Google+ I am happy. Somewhat. The site is gorgeous and minimal - just hoe I like it. The downside, however, is not many people are in my circles right now. Which probably sounds like what I want from a social network like G+ (and all that came before it) but I really need more updates from those that I have allowed in my Circles.
Facebook is the worse. Facebook makes me depressed. Jealous. It gives me a sense of inferiority. It's becoming how MySpace was for me. I'm constantly watching how many "likes" a person get and who comments of their stuff. I get upset when mutual friends comment incessantly on someone's stuff, but never on my own. I have gone through periods of "baiting" for comments or likes from either specific people or my entire friends list. I have deleted all my information, swearing off the site, only to put it back up there. Facebook has made me dislike several people that i used to consider as friends. It upsets me that my boyfriend won't even tag me in a relationship, even though that is such a meaningless social network invention that does not by any means make a relationship any more real then it is with or without it.
That long winded paragraph about Facebook is the reason I am doing this wrong. I shouldn't spend this much time of these networking places unless they will get me a job. I should not allow these places to control my emotions, especially not as vehemently as Facebook has.
But I can't and probably won't stop.
Because I must know what everyone is doing when they update because I am doing nothing. And if I am doing nothing I certainly want to read about people that are doing something. It's like tabloids of average, normal people.
