Social Networking:Aye or Nay

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I have bee an honorary netizen for 5 years now,having spent much of my time at myspace,hi5,forums,Deviantart and a whole bunch of other whats-its-names,now tired but not retired and peacefully settled at Orkut.This association of mine with the world wide web has been looked at,dissected,commented on and criticsed from various angles ranging from "OH!your myspace page is SO HAWT!"(myfriends), "Do something constructive"(my dad),"If I open an account,will you email me daily?"(uh Mom,we live in the same house),"See if she doesn't get molested,I'll change my name"(once a year lulus-the kind whose interaction with you is limited to a phonecall on your birthday which goes something like this :
I-dunno-who:Hey happy birthday! Me:Thank you!!
-dunno-who:So whatcha doing today? Me:*rattles off stuff* ,I-dunno-who:K,gtg see you then. Me:k,take care. I-dunno-who:Oh btw,you did recognise me didn't you? ME:UHH..*UH-OH*!)
As I look back now and contrast between Then and now,I recognise a pattern.The *then* patternwas "Meet as many new people as possible,decorate your page with the glitziest icons,the sparkliest backgrounds,ape your new friends as much as possible to meet more newer and and more popular myspace/hi5 whores friends. And the now pattern is Throw decorating to the winds,connect with your friends,the kind you did or still do get to see on a more or less regular basis.Blogging,however,is a different issue.I have met such wonderful people,got to know their views on different things,get to laugh with them,wish to be a borrower of their pains whther I *meet* them or not.

Social networking can be a boon or a curse,depending on how you use it.I for one have never put personal information like contact numbers or my address online.You just don't do it.The networking sites are sitting up,and there are n number of options to lock your albums or lets you limit the amount of information you want to show to people who are not in your immediate cirle or *list*.I have been silly at times,let slip stuff and had sulked or frowned whenever anyone chided me for it.Major dumbo,I know.You can do a lot of silly things when you are 13,14,15 or even at 40.Reign it in,and you'll be ok!Some people pretend like they haven't learnt to look before they leap,and well,leap.It is for the worldy wise to make sure that they find a safe place to land.The *virtual* world can be a dangerous place.A world wide masquerade,if you so please.People can be whoever they want to be so its important to watch your step.If anybody sounds wonky,don't proceed just because you have a screen and a thousand miles separating you.A few days ago Myspace removed a few hundred sex offenders from their network.But it all depends on how you use it,such is technology.You can use it to feed or blow up a whole nation,similarly you can use it to close up the distance between your loved ones,make your life easier with e-payments,e-tickets et al or pave hell with your life.Some find it too complex a medium to stay in touch,but thats totally up to them.I'm pretty happy doing what I do over here.So,over loud protests(maybe not) Miss nobody squeaks,nope clears her throat, and firmly says,Aye.


P.s:I still haven't gotten over decorating my page lol,though glitters don't attract me anymore.


Disclaimer:This post is not intended to offend anybody,you may chose what you want ,its upto you.Or any of the mentioned social networking sites.These are just my views.And neither am I encouraging teenagers or young adults to hang on to the edge of their keyboards.This is the time you *build* yourselves,use it carefully.Treat it like a ticking time bomb. :D

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dahling I just luv ur blog!! Dont need glitter, its glam enough!! And yes I champagned alot yesterday...and dont mention the GNT's!! Cheers!!

That Girl said...

hmmm
yeah i use mine to stay in touch with friends. i am however signed up to about every social networking site i canf ind. half the time none of my friends are on there xD
haha
i find myspace the most complex to use, but also the most aimed at teenagers/young adults, whereas facebook is more adult friendly but also suitable for the young 'uns.

budh.aaah said...

So when was your b'day? If its today then 'happy birthday :)' if not then :(
I am lagging behind since the past few days , hope to catch up on my writing soon.

Miss_Nobody said...

Sonja:Thanks,omg I fell in love with yours too,you must be an awesome columnist!
That Girl,So do I.Couple of years ago I kept logging in a dozen times a day whether I had some new comments or stuff XD!
budh.aah,My birthday is in July *I was born when the seventh month died* 31st july...if you read harry potter you would know the significance :D Hope to read more of your poems!!
Thanks for visitng!!

BioPeach said...

Hi,
This is a great post- the internet is so awesome.
Anyway, you can post your avatar by going to the Yahoo avatars page and pressing shift + PrtSC (print screen). Then you go to Paint or some other art program and select paste.
Then, cut out the avatar photo, copy and paste in a new page.