Item — HN Reader

I don't relate to this. I finally pulled out of social networking altogether based on the fact that it made everything too significant, not too insignificant. Most of what is posted on twitter or on facebook walls would normally be kept to one's self; it was already insignificant. Now people are commenting on, debating, and retweeting stuff that might have been worth mentioning while trying to make conversation over lunch, but certainly not worth calling anybody to tell.

Note that I post this as a comment on a comment of a news-aggregating site's comment thread on a blog (at least I'm hoping it's a blog and not a print column) hosted by website of the print magazine Forbes written by a columnist who wrote an essay debating the significance of a tweet (or class of personal emissions of which this tweet was representive) written by a guy who decided to delete 100 of his 300 apps.

Over lunch, mentioning that you just deleted 100 of the 300 apps on your iphone might be a spark for a good five minutes of conversation. On the internet, it sparks existential crises all over the world.

EDIT: I'm not sure if I'm expressing myself well here. I really, deeply, truly, honestly don't want to know that Scoble deleted 100 of his apps. I can also wait up to two years before finding out whether old friends have had children without losing any of the "oh, that's nice" feeling that I'll have upon hearing it. Facebook and Twitter seem to addict people to a stream of trivialities that wouldn't be worth turning over for in isolation. It might have to do with the fact that an orgasm is made up of x number of rubs.

3 comments

There are definitely two conflicting forces at work here - social networking making every action seem both insignificant (in comparison to the barrage of updates we receive every day) while also making almost every event quite significant (Hundreds of comments, comments on comments, etc). But one force might not necessarily prevail over the other - they can work it tandem, leading to interesting results.

One issue with jdietrich's initial comment is that his views on social networking revealing our true insignificance assume that the selves we display in the "unreal" world of social networking are, in fact, accurate representations of our "real world" selves; in reality, this is hardly the case. I know I've caught myself thinking "How will this Tweet or that FB update make me look to my friends/followers..." - hardly a parallel of how one lives and presents themselves in the unpredictable, variable real world.

This, in my mind, is the product of the conflicting forces of exaggerated significance / insignificance - the intense crafting of our online personalities. We've seen the blue marble - have realized that with all of the white noise, we must seem better, funnier, more interesting, to break through the noise. Yet at the same time we know that, should we actually get noticed, we will get noticed in a serious way - hundreds or thousands of people might see our update. The pressure is on.

As I see it, this is the product of these two conflicting forces: A high-pressure culture, a culture of scrutiny wherein every action and sentence is specifically crafted and cultivated. Orwell's 1984 comes to mind, but rather than Big Brother watching over everyone, it is the public that constantly watches each other.

"Facebook and Twitter seem to addict people to a stream of trivialities that wouldn't be worth turning over for in isolation."

I wonder how modern 24/7 news organizations have affected people in this regard. Some people are addicted to news: people want to be the first to know something, to give themselves a sense of elitism or pride in letting their friends in on the news, or feel "informed" during casual discussion.

But social media has what national news media often doesn't: personal attachment. National news media will churn out "news" no matter what. There will always be stories to report on--it's just a matter of how many people they affect. Social media "news" caries the same weight. Some news, like that I just ate a really yummy lunch, far outweigh the announcing of a new job, or announcing a death.

The personality of your Facebook or Twitter newsfeed is just that: personal. It's tailored to people YOU (say you) care about. Therein lies the addictive nature.

The who and the how of the rubbing matters a lot more than the number.