I read today several articles about social networking and the impact it has had on our lives this past year.
The first article was about the singer Lilly Allen and how she has given up her social networking “addiction” after a demand from her boyfriend. Allen said that she would constantly be updating her status on Facebook or Twitter and she would even sleep with her BlackBerry at times. Since the ultimatum she has put her laptop, Blackberry, Iphone in a box and is not even on email anymore. Whilst I feel this is slightly extreme I do understand her situation.
The second article mentioned that social networking was now the third highest reason for divorce in the UK. Many meet and even marry online through the people that they have met and for many the compatibility of forming love in real life is often too strenuous and hard to make a reality.
To me this is no longer a phase or a fad. Several years from now I foresee most relationships starting online. Many of my friends have met some wonderful people through sites like Facebook and the love is still going strong to this very day. Does it really matter how people meet? If you’re going to meet the love of your life then its regardless where you meet them, all that has happened is that meeting them from the comfort of your own home has quickly replaced that of going down the local pub.
However it can become something of an addiction as Lilly Allen found out. When I first tried out Facebook and Twitter I was something of an addict. Through Facebook I have managed to make contact with a lot of people that I had lost along the way and that is something I will always be thankful for. Twitter is more of a novelty really, a good way to have a laugh as well as keeping people updated whilst on the move. I really have no desire to stalk celebrities on Twitter. The very thought of knowing a z-list celebrity is having a shit is hardly the highlight of my day.
Thirty years ago many people sat in a darken room and used a CB radio to surf the airwaves to meet new people with a bizarre handle such as “Eagle Child”. The only difference is that we no longer have 40 foot Ariel’s attached to our houses and instead were using mobile technology.
No doubt there will be many challenges to Facebook and Twitter over the years yet with the number of registered people on Facebook approaching 400,000,000 it can hardly be described as “Just another website”.
Social Networking is here to stay and it should carry a health warning. Too much use can lead to an addiction. Reality needs to stay within our lives.