Social networking is a sign of retardation

April 21st, 2008 | by Brook Durant |

Do you want to know the truth? Only idiots bother with social networking. Before you get your knickers all bunched up I want you to hear me out for a moment. Go log into your Myspace or Facebook profile real quick and have a quick look around. Ok, done?

Great! Notice anything different? Of course not! And that’s the whole point. Nothing changes. Aside from adding a few more meaningless faces and names to your “friends” list what have you accomplished? The truth of the matter is a bitter pill, but it’s time to swallow it. So called “social networking” is neither social, nor is it networking. But wait, there’s more good news!

Social networking can actually be more detrimental to your long term online health than you might realize. The problem is that we start developing content as if our social networks are our primary audience all the while forgetting the other 1.3 trillion people out there who aren’t in our friends list. If they were just part of the audience that would be fine, but we have a tendency to start dancing like clowns for our networks.

Now excuse me while I log into Reptile Geeks. I’m expecting a couple of more friend requests!

Don't forget to subscribe to A Blog about Nothing's RSS feed!

Tags:

6 Responses to “Social networking is a sign of retardation”

  1. MyAvatars 0.2

    By Rob O. on Apr 22, 2008

    To a large degree, I can certainly see your point. The “friends” I’ve acquired on several of these networks are folks I have almost no real connection with even in the most remote sense.

    The shining exception, however, is LinkedIn. The networking I’ve done there is entirely with real people whom I actually know or have at least been acquainted with in some capacity, either professionally or personally.

  2. MyAvatars 0.2

    By A Blog about Nothing on Apr 22, 2008

    Rob - LinkedIn is a little different from the little bit I know about it. It’s more like an online version of BNI or even the local Chamber of Commerce.

    This particular post was directed more towards crap like facebook, myspace, etc, etc, etc which are great fun but totally pointless

  3. MyAvatars 0.2

    By bloggernoob on May 6, 2008

    haha. i agree. but i did join facebook a few weeks ago. connected with some old highschool mates. only good thing is that it’s a free version of classmates.com. other then that it blows.

  4. MyAvatars 0.2

    By Den on May 7, 2008

    I disagree. I have a livejournal account. Most of the people in my friends list, are people I personally knew before I joined this service. There are also a lot of interesting communities where you can get valuable help or share your creations and be appreciated by people that have common interests.
    I agree, there are some people that tend to “dance like clowns” for their networks. This is certainly a negative point.

    In my opinion, social networking can be seen from positive and negative point of view, but in reality we are the ones to choose how to use it.

  5. MyAvatars 0.2

    By chris on May 10, 2008

    Lots of people who blog are actually lonely or feel somewhat non conforming to the real world daily life around them.

    I think social blogging can lead people to a big let down, if they dont recognize it for what is:

    Just a hobby or a break from the occasional boredom of daily life.

  6. MyAvatars 0.2

    By Rt on May 12, 2008

    I think social networking will give you opportunity to rise your business group.

Post a Comment

-->