durkinator27:

‘Tis the season for Lent, which means for a little while there might be a surplus of chocolate, soda, and masturbation.  But here in the 21st century, more and more people might be giving up social networking—which, if that’s what you’re giving up in the name of God or The Doctor or whoever, that probably means it qualifies as a big deal.  No doubt you’ve heard the constant debates over how social media is changing our culture for better or worse, though usually people say it’s for the worse.  I’ll take a wild guess and say you, the reader, have a Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, or some other knock-off like that “FriendZone” site the college kids are always talking about.

Oh.

I can’t really argue for the negative effects it has on society—just a quick glance at Twitter will prove that people are really, really stupid.  But there are ways to have these pages to share and connect with people, and even use them quite a lot, without plunging your social life down the toilet and giving in to Skynet.  I’m certainly not saying I’m the absolute perfect social media user myself.  But I don’t feel an overwhelming sense of disillusionment or stress because of it.I’d like to think I’ve learned enough from my good and bad internet experiences—as well as creepily observing everyone else—to say that I at the very least don’t use it badly (anymore.)

 It was 2006, okay?!

What I’mwriting about is based on what a comedian I follow on Tumblr (oh hay social networking) said: “If you think Facebook is annoying, you have annoying friends. If you think Facebook is shallow, you have shallow friends. Whatever you think about Facebook, that is a direct reflection of your friends. OR…you are using Facebook wrong.”  I’d argue this could work as the basis for the internet as a whole—that how you view it is a direct correlation to the environment you’re in and how you use it.  If you think the social networking realm is a shallow, narcissistic, drama-producing life-ruiner machine, read on and see why it probably means you’re doing it wrong.

Read the article on my blog!

((THIS IS MY VERY GOOD FRIEND’S BLOG. HE IS ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT. EVERYTHING HE WRITES IS FANTASTIC. IF YOU HAVE A MINUTE, YOU SHOULD CHECK HIM OUT))