A Case Against Online Social Networks
In our mobilized, hyper-connected, and convenience-laden culture, the respective arts of "getting to know" a person, and "staying in touch" with a person, are being increasingly—and deceptively—undercut by the ease and convenience with which we are able to achieve them. In my own life and in society as a whole, I am seeing a rapidly growing trend of maintaining a near-constant connection to an enormous amount of people, while the quality, depth, and integrity of these connections shrinks at the exact same rate.
We discover the deeper side of acquaintances by reading their Myspace profiles. We find out what is happening in our friend's lives by reading their LiveJournals. We prove our cool stature or create chains of gossip by putting our personal, intimate interactions with people on permanent public display when we "comment on their profile." I feel as though internet communities such as Myspace have made many of my relationship more shallow by allowing me to avoid real, in-depth connection, and creating an atmosphere in which my expressions of connectedness often do not stem from a place of integrity, but rather from base, degenerate motives. Because of the nature of the comment system, these motives can include nosiness, perpetuating gossip, seeking revenge, and proving social superiority, amongst many others. I am not proud of engaging in these behaviors. And I am not trying to blame the killing entirely on the gun here, so to speak, but one must admit, with the way Myspace is set up, it has a profound ability to encourage and coax out the worst of our social behaviors.
It is very different when there is a common cultural thread or goal involved, such as in the music networking division of Myspace. But as far as our personal profiles go, if you think about it, what are we all REALLY here for? What is the purpose behind all this? If it's simply to genuinely and wholeheartedly connect with people, why can't we do that through emails, or better yet, handwritten letters, telephone calls, and being together in the flesh? Why do we need "profiles" to prove how hip or witty or sexy or smart we are? Why do we need to put our relationships on public display? Do you think perhaps, just maybe, a social resource like Myspace is primarily serving our deepest insecurities and neuroses, and only compromising the quality of the very relationships we are seeking to create and/or maintain?
I rest my case. I do not feel it is appropriate to delete my profile entirely, because of the various messages and communications that would be deleted on my friend's accounts as a result, and it is not my place to say whether or not they still want or need to be able access to these communications. But I will no longer be using this Myspace profile, either to give or receive communication.
I will still have my music profile on Myspace, but I am going to maintain the very concerted effort I have already been making to keep all my communications on that profile exclusively in regards to music, whether it is mine or another Myspace artist's.
Many of you on here are people I really love and want to stay connected to, which is precisely the reason I am doing this—so I can have more real and integrity-based relationships with you. If you want to have a personal, non-music-related interaction with me, try any of the numerous alternatives to Myspace that I listed earlier, and I would be simply delighted to hear from you!
