This world that we've created, where we are in constant contact with one another, enhances our human "need" to communicate with someone. Anyone. It's easier than ever. Cell phones, texts, IMs, emails, tweets, Harry Potter's owls, and mind control.
So all this communication should be a good thing, right?
I'm over it.
Now you ask why.
Lately, I think we all use this as a way to make us feel important. We reach out to try to talk to anyone. The biggest crime of this is people during work. Let's be honest - most people get bored during their work day. The monotonous routine 5 days a week makes people not want to work when they are supposed. They want to talk to someone else, just to talk to someone else. They don't have to say anything, just they feel more important because they've been making some kind of contact.
Some of the messages I've gotten just this week include "ughhh I'm so bored and hungry" "I'm so f****ing bored I hate this place" "I want to quit" "ughhhh this day is draggginggg" and so on. And not from just the same person. Several different people. My response? I don't. I don't care. Everyone gets bored at one point or another. Telling someone how bored you are doesn't change anything - it just makes you sound miserable. Nobody really wants to talk with someone who is miserable. It just brings down the other person who isn't bored.
Another random sidenote - people say the world is getting smaller because of media. More and more people know each other. While I agree, people know each other through whatever you want to call it - six degrees of separation or whatever - I think it keeps us closer connected to our close circle of friends, making it harder to meet other people. When you see other people out, 90% chance they are doing something with their cell phones. Talking, texting, playing games. What's the point of going to a bar if you're going to sit on your phone the whole time? It's a huge crutch. I'm not innocent here either. It sucks. I'm very tight with people who aren't here with me in NYC, but I haven't really made many new friends. Maybe part of that is my low budget, but facts are facts. I tweet/text/call/video chat with the same 5-10 people everyday, but almost none of them are here. It's nice having that connection, but it'd be nice to have the in-person connection too, which can't be duplicated over technology.
Anyways, if you're bored. Find something to make you not bored. But don't share your boredom with others. It's unbecoming and makes you look pathetic.
I also think social media inflates people's perceived self-worth, and make us think that everyone can and should hear us. They also think it's a perfect platform to complain. I'm in a group of people in my building, and it feels like every discussion topic is something wrong with something else. Some people's tweets are just complaints. Stop complaining. be positive.
You're supposed to note the irony here - I'm complaining on my blog about people complaining via our evolving technology. This is like a poorly written Seinfeld episode.
Thanks for hearing my rant, now back to your regularly scheduled Thursday!
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