Unsocial Network

With all the newly developed/developing ways to access information nowadays something the other day got my noggin thinking. I'll try to spare you the mellow dramatic unibomber-type ramblings about the perils of the information age and instead approach the topic of online communication in a somewhat open manner. While doing so there's a very good chance I'm going to prejudge, stereotype and almost certainly I will come across as a hypocrite. But I'm not going to cave in to these factors.. Instead I shall press on and lower the bar for myself.

Blogs, articles, opinions, rants (such as this one - see the hypocrisy starting?) fill the internet. People have created multi-million dollar enterprises on hosting opinions online. Social networking is at an all time high but at times I have questioned if this is a good thing for some people.

By "some" people I mean the outliers in society; especially those who haven't developed a healthy social life and coping skills. I know that the term "healthy" is a relative term open to debate but let's use a loose definition of the term.

I've come across a few blogs recently that made me question the true reason for their creation. Most well adjusted people appreciate positive attention at times but I didn't understand some of what I was seeing in the postings and online journal entries - they seemed to be a recap of many mundane days of a person's life with nothing of note and things overly expressed with no real significance. Let's face it... Something exciting and interesting really doesn't happen every day, we have some days that are quite unremarkable. Just like training.. Some days are a 45 min swim and 2 hour bike with no real highlights - meat and potatoes, getting the job done, repeat.

During these blog readings I'd read them looking for some nugget of entertainment or something that was lost on me and then it occurred to me.. Was this simply a case of open, blatant narcissism? That is, recording daily events for the sake of having others look at, comment with an "atta girl, we love you!" and such nonsense. It cracks me up when someone will pretty much go online to a message board and whine about being sick and how their triathlon training is suffering, etc. That's not the interesting part - the responses such as "Ill be praying for you", "being sick sucks, hang in there" commence. You've got a friggin cold - life will go on. Total strangers lending their support for the equivalent of a hangnail is borderline pathetic. People are getting blown up by IEDs in the Middle East.. Your sniffles will be okay with tylenol.

One thing the internet does not foster is the incentive to get out of one's comfort zone. People now have the ability to instant message, bbm, facebook friends and strangers probably a little too easily and there's a time and place for actual in person or phone conversation. Shut ins and introverts now have less incentive to go make actual, flesh and blood relationships. Why go out and meet people when you can grow you facebook friend list with much less stress?

It's probably the same theme that has shown success for the supposedly real reality shows - I've never heard a single person claim that they love drama yet shows where conflict is ever present draws in huge ratings.

I recently heard that a professional athlete texted an apology to his coach after some embarrassing incident that escapes me at the moment. Text an apology? I can assure you that any recipient of an apology would prefer a communication of a higher level. 100 bucks says that Tony Texter gets embarrassed again for something in the near future since text apology just doesn't carry much weight. If you can't even be bothered to press a preset number on your phone to take the time to go over something uncomfortable with someone, then what's the chance that you care enough to make sure you don't screw up again?

We do have a bright future to reap the benefits of all the world's developing technology. I'd just like for character, honesty and integrity to keep pace with the material advancements.

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