Social Media: Man's Great Big Cry for Attention

I don't really care for social networking. Which also means I don't really care for this blog. 

I find myself trapped in an internal battle of facebook-Perez Hilton-and my own self indulgent ramblings pulling me down into the depths of narcissism and over exposure, while I purposely leave my phone in my car and fantasize about living on Walden Pond (Thoreau people). What really brings all my troubling contradictions to surface is reading anything Paris Hilton writes on her personal Myspace page. That's the problem with social networking, you can't run from anyone! I scan Perez Hilton, celebrity gossip machine who makes fun of celebrities while he himself is the biggest celebrity wannabe, in search of amusing tidbits on authentic talents such as Reese Witherspoon and Justin Timberlake. Yet I'm constantly bombarded with the disturbing existence of Paris Hilton's "deep thoughts". Recently she posted a near novel about "the scariest moment in her life" when her boyfriend got in a brawl with a DJ at a nightclub. Have you ever seen a DJ? They are the scrawny drugged out dude/dudettes in the corner usually maxing out at an intimidating 120 lbs. I couldn't help but wonder why she really thought any of us care about her stupid school yard fight? I've got real problems honey. Buy a new Juicy Couture tracksuit, I'm sure you'll feel better Paris.

Then I realized the hypocrisy of this all. As I too publish ramblings of insignificance. All social media has done to us is given the unlimited ability to cry out for attention. Usually unmerited attention. Consider Facebook statuses. Wow. Half the time statuses are like dogs who whine & whimper to get someone to just look at them. What has gone wrong in life that we must beg for attention in the vast cloud of the internet? Shouldn't this be indulged by the family and friends that surround us IN REAL LIFE? What did we do ten years ago when we needed attention? Oh yeah, we hung out with our friends. Face-to-face. And if you didn't have any friends you became a writer.

Clearly this absence of steady employment has given me way too much time to think. I'm probably not going to move to Montana and live on a ranch with no digital contact, although if you know someone I'd probably be interested. Instead I'm probably going to stay here and figure out what the heck Twitter is, because right now it's stunningly confusing to me why someone/everyone wants to know I just went to Starbucks.