My friend G sent me a link to an interesting NPR story titled Can Social Media Break Up a Marriage? I had missed the story so I was thrilled to get the link:
I've blogged about this kind of thing before...I truly believe that technology will be the main reason for our downfall. I keep my Facebook account for the blog based on feedback I've gotten from you guys. I seldom log on and I don't comment much. I will look at my friends pages occasionally to see pictures of their kids. I really don't miss it. I think it is necessary for advertising and guerilla marketing. How else will some fabulous publisher find me and take me away from my bullshit job?
There is something to the whole texting, IM'ing, emailing thing. In the story on NPR the comment is made that with texting you can send a message to someone without their spouse or significant other knowing (I flash back to John telling me that he was texting his boys when he was really sending I love you texts to Pao). It makes it easier to reach out and start those conversations. It is less intimate than real life conversations. I used to have a friend that 90% of her communication was via text. It exhausted me and left me feeling like I didn't matter. She is no longer a friend. I bet she is texting right now.
I think back to college with the "when is he going to call me" feeling. Now girls will send something stupid like "whatsup? as they wait for a text instead of a call. There is no intrigue.
I just read through the comments after the story. There are the typical comments from others who had been cheated on and a few that thought the story was lame. I think the guy's last comment is similar to how I feel:
Yet Green says he's wary about another intimate relationship. He wants to trust again. Every time a girlfriend texts someone else, he can't help but feel suspicious.
I had seen this article on NPR, and was interested because people have told me to "get with the program" and get a facebook, etc. page so I can keep up with them and not ask for personal contact. Because of work and personal choice, I don't facebook, and I never will. My thought is --- if I matter as your "friend" in real life, you will keep me in the loop, even if my the watered down versions of email contact. It's not that I don't have things to say...I have plenty to say to those I really care about knowing the workings of my life, or those I feel a connection or bond. I find that I still enjoy the "lost art" of letter writing and when I need to clarify, I revert to letters. Letters can reveal so much about a person, and I once fell in love with someone by the beauty of his letters and the "depth" of soul portrayed that a texted "hey" just can't touch. Also, having began my discovery of my husband's lying, cheating and idiocy through a text message he received----and the subsequent time I spent trying to "work through" that...I will agree....social media....in some forms is evil. You said it --- no intrigue. No anticipation or sense of wonder exists when we can instantly gratify ourselves with technology. But we sure love it, don't we? I am sitting at the soccer fields for 2 hours tonight and instead of walking while my son practices I am on the laptop and have the Kindle nearby just in case. I will walk on Thursday....I promise.
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