frantster

Are web sites like Friendster and MySpace creating a narcissistic society, or just a symptom of it? It seems to me like a lot of interactions on these social networking sites are meant either to up one's own profile so that one looks better for strangers, or to satisfy one's itch for social ego-stroking by fulfilling the need for recognition. Why would you write somebody a testimonial? Because you want to get one back. Why would you send somebody a "smile?" Because it means that they're bound to write you something, even though all that you sent them was a

:-)

These sites are a perfect way to get a constant stream of minor personal validations in the form of brief messages from total strangers. I've gotten some interesting thoughts from strangers about my profile, or whatever. What bothers me is that the interaction never goes beyond one message in either direction. Nobody ever wants to meet in real life, or even email. It's fine to talk to strangers, but risking meeting them in real life is just too much to bear. There's too much potential for it to turn into an interaction that actually takes some effort. And heaven forbid that you're actually interested in the person you meet, because then you'd open yourself up to being potentially vulnerable to them, which is the biggest faux-pas of them all.

In other news, my phone bill is astronomical, so if it seems like I'm avoiding you on the phone, it's not you, it's just that it costs me a ton of money. I'll change it this month, if I can get my shit together. My shit has not been entirely together lately, so it's kind of up in the air whether it'll actually happen. At any rate, I'm not avoiding you, I'm just avoiding bills. Don't take it personally, right?

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