How many times have you gotten one those silly little e-mails asking you to become someone's friend on Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, or some other silly social network? If you were alive, then in the last decade you got an AOL free disk in the mail, and in the last couple of years you've been asked to join a social network at least 5-times.
Those two things are pretty much guaranteed.
Rather than "friending" someone, you might send them an e-mail asking them why? Why not ask them; "why an Earth should I join Facebook?" Not long ago, I did this, but the reply I got back was rather puzzling.
Instead of explaining to me all the benefits of Facebook, the other person said to be "because everyone else is doing it, and you don't want to be left out.
You'll be able to contact all of your friends, and it's really cool.
I can't believe you don't have a Facebook account.
" Indeed, consider if you will their comments, they were explaining to me in so many words that everyone needs to feel like they belong to something, and that you should follow along because everyone else is doing it.
Now I don't mean to sound like Spock on Star Trek, but "that is highly illogical," and it makes no sense whatsoever.
Am I supposed to start drinking Dr Pepper also? Do you remember that old jingle on their TV commercial? "He's a pepper, she's a pepper, wouldn't you like to be a pepper to, be a pepper, drink Dr Pepper.
" Well, actually, no I don't want to be a pepper, I don't want to be an Obama-Rama, Mouseketeer, and I don't want to be a Facebooker, but thanks for asking anyway? Now then, it seems that we have hundreds of billions of people joining Facebook in order to validate themselves, and uplift their self-esteem.
But if they get all of their personal identity from belonging to a group then in actuality they are just blank people, they aren't thinking anymore, and they have no real sense of self.
Why would anyone wish to dump their personal identity to join a group of other folks that have also given up who they are, merely to belong to a group of folks who are trying to find themselves, but are wondering around lost? If you're going to join a social network, you want to have a good reason for doing so.
Just joining a social network because everyone else is doing it, is not a valid reason, and there is no logic in that.
Not to mention the fact that it can deteriorate and errode your personal strength of character, and identity.
Indeed, I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.