Has attention-wh0ring surpassed baseball as the national pasttime?

[speakeasy]

Facebook, myspace, flickr, twitter, blogging, forums, etc etc, when it comes down to it, isn't it all about attention whoring? Whenever we post stuff up online, I'm sure if we think for a second before we hit the submit button, and we're honest with ourselves, most the reason we're on these things is to say "look at me!" I think it's worse with women, but guys are pretty bad too.

Seems like we've just completely evolved(or devolved) into this self-obsessed society where we worship ourselves and think our every minute thought is worthy of public attention. Seriously, twitter?? An entire site dedicated to people posting, "I had some great pizza for lunch". Me and a buddy have a common friend who is on facebook and we laugh that she'll be out with her friends and have to log into her cellphone and post a status update saying that she's having a good time out with her friends. We're like, damn, if she's having such a great time, then turn off your facebook cellphone app and have a great time, wtf are you on facebook telling the world about it for??

I just wonder where this obsession with self-importance is going to take our society. When you have classrooms of teens text messaging each other and updating their twitter status while India and China are churning out scientists and engineers like an assembly line.

 

[STR8UP]

For women it's as much about being communication obsessed as it is anything.

Think about it. Women LIVE to communicate, so what could be better than being able to broadcast yourself to dozens or hundreds as opposed to two or three? And on the other end it's all about knowing someone else's business. Look at all of the celebrity gossip mags. These are individual gossip columns.

Another thing is that women tend not to have the same close knit social networks that men do. Women tend to have larger, more loosely knit networks. Men have fewer but tighter connections.

Why complain about this stuff? Use what you can to your advantage and filter out the rest. It can actually be a great tool. I posted a myspace bulletin that I was going to be out of the country to let my friends know not to call unless it was important, and it led to re-connecting with a chick I wanted to bang awhile back who had a b/f at the time. Looks like she might just be single these days.

If I hadn't inadvertently cast a line out in the water I doubt I would have gotten a bite. Ya feel me?

 

[taiyuu_otoko]

the desire has always been there, recent years have just afforded an opportunity to fulfill it.

From the standpoint of a business model, they've done pretty well. They've come up with a way to seemingly satisfy a natural human urge (getting attention through communicating with others) while taking away some of the risks (rejection, etc)

The human urge to communicate face to face, and be able to unconsciously read the body language of others is still there, and still can only be met through the old fashioned way.

If anything, the prevalence of twitter and all the other bullshyte will make those with skills in stirring the emotions of those sitting in front of you in much more demand.

I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[speakeasy]

From the standpoint of a business model, they've done pretty well.

I don't know about that, Facebook hasn't turned any profit and I seriously doubt Twitter has either. Kind of interesting to see the economy shift from behemoths like GM that actually provided something tangible with good paying jobs to these "new economy" companies that geeks in their garages come up with that make no money. Sign of the times perhaps?

 

[Desert Fox]

Doesn't matter.

Just means it will attract all the weak minded people and it will be easier for me to move to the top and own them in the future.

 

[piranha45]

facebook hasn't made any serious profit??? are you serious??

 

[Buddhist Warrior]

No Man or Woman lives on an island. The truth of the matter is that we all have social needs but its got to be taken care of in a positive way.

Instead of being an agnostic pest in some Christian chatroom why not use your guitar talents and play for the poor for a charity or something?

Were definitely living in the Myspace and Me generation and its a pretty normal phase for young adults to go through. But when there's a point when the younger generation can no longer relate to the older generation and what they have gone through.
Then thats when it starts becoming more and more of a problem.

 

[Upside]

Facebook, myspace, flickr, twitter, blogging, forums, etc.

I'll take an attention whoring test.

Facebook: Nope
MySpace: Nope
Flickr: Nope
Twitter: Nope
Blog: Nope
Forums: I take part in two forums as a member and lurk in others. The ones I am involved in include this site and and an NHL related forum.

I just don't want my personal self on the internet. It is too big and too ugly to even risk it.

Has it affected me? Not really. My friends talk about comments they sent to eachother on facebook and talk about the comment in person. If I meet someone I get their phone number and maybe E-Mail. People tell me that they use the site as a way to keep in touch with friends far away. I'll use E-Mail thank you very much.

I have girls that I know bug me to get one but to them I say fvck it. I have more important things to do that tweet about the lovely shower I had in the morning with Old Spice Body Wash.

 

[Da Realist]

To be honest, everything has surpassed baseball as America's past-time. But enough with how I think baseball is boring to watch instead of play...actually I think that explains a lot of what's going on. When civilization gets to a point, people become more of spectators than actually trying to go out and do something. There are people who are actors, models, athletes, billionaires, engineers, lawyers, etc., but a lot of people are the like the guy at Home Depot who gets up everyday to make enough money to keep his lights on for another day. They don't do anything special (eventhough knowing the difference between a coupling and a union is useful), so they like to here about what someone else they know did and feel better about themselves because they know that guy. Imagine being able to tell people you knew Kobe before he went to the NBA or even that you know a guy who drank so much that when he peed on a campfire he burned a forest. Folks are just bored and want somehow to make their life seem somewhat interesting instead of just seeing a guy on TV run a touchdown.

Really though, all this stuff is making me think of Fahrenheit 451 where Guy's wife is always in front of the TV visiting with friends and taking part in their plays. Then there were the teenagers that ran free and did all types of stuff because parents were so disconnected from the real world. Its that the US is getting like that. I mean, its not even like in 1984 with a government hanging over your shoulder. We're doing it all to ourselves. Looking over what I wrote, I think if this keeps going the only people that will bring people back to reality are the crazed fundamentalists running around right now because they're going to be the only ones saying thing shouldn't be how they are. Oh well, that's my rambling. I think I'll unplug for the day and enjoy the weather.

 

[Luthor Rex]

Welcome to the age of digital narcissism.

Seriously, twitter?? An entire site dedicated to people posting, "I had some great pizza for lunch".

When I first saw what twitter was I was convinced that I had to have it wrong. Like you said "an entire site dedicated to 'I had great pizza'" is just stupid.

Even now sometimes I look at twitter and think to myself "there's gotta be something I'm missing here, it just can't be this dumb". But it is.

 

[ketostix]

The way I see it these "social networking" sites cater to female attention wh0ring behavior. But what what's changing is that men are not only accepting outlandish female behavior, they are behaving like women themselves. Not to surprising when you consider this culture is an increasingly feminist and gay culture. To main goals of those "movements" is to do away with classical and natural male behavior, roles and influence. And females aren't encouraged to be particularly feminine either. It's also a female nature to be modest and somewhat humble too, but society doesn't encourage that at all.

It really does seem like anything wrong or stupid gets picked up by everyone. Everything is about "personality" and nothing is about character or content anymore.

 

[Phenomenal One]

for attention wh0ring to work, there has to be a crowd.

i have a myspace
it's a generic page so i have'nt updated layouts, graphics, etc, nothing flashy.
it's great for keeping in contact with people,
finding people you used to know way back when.

but twitter ? too much for me

Why complain about this stuff? Use what you can to your advantage and filter out the rest. It can actually be a great tool.

words to live by.

a hot female friend of my older sisters dropped by the house a while ago.
she lives out in florida, business woman, single, made a quick trip out to NY.
got the talkin with her, found out some stuff about her.
the next day my sister was sayin her friend was talkin about me, sayin how i should come down to florida to see her.

she gave a shout out to me on her facebook (it was my brithday recently).

i'll definitely see whats up with her, see if that offer to chill with her in florida is 4-real.

 

[speakeasy]

I've got a facebook and a myspace page myself, though I rarely visit the myspace anymore. I'm not talking so much about the casual user that hops on every so often. I'm talking about the people who practically live on facebook and twitter and have to update their page 20 times a day to let us all know they are in traffic on the freeway or how cute their dog is when he chases a ball.

 

[King Turi]

I've got facebook and myspace, but not twitter since I don't know what it is.. I just figured it was another myspace basically, so never bothered.

I check it a couple of times a day because I talk to people on it and I get people who have seen me out and about adding me since they "recognize" me, then I'm able to invite them out to some place like a karaoke or something, somewhere that's not a date, just to have a good night out basically.

But I have a few female friends who actually have facebook and myspace on their mobile phones, and they actually do post stupid updates all the time even when they are out, one of them actually posted about being driven to wherever I was taken her (don't worry, I ain't her *****, she gave me more than enough fuel and this chick I wouldn't touch with YOUR ****), and then actually posted again seriously before she even got in the door to her house, to say she was home.
We were gone for maybe 15 minutes all up. ._.

Seriously do not get the point in that stuff, it's takin' it too far, but whatever, too each their own, I play my guitar all the time, I'm sure there's people out there who'd think that was takin' it too far too.

 

[Phenomenal One]

But I have a few female friends who actually have facebook and myspace on their mobile phones, and they actually do post stupid updates all the time even when they are out, one of them actually posted about being driven to wherever I was taken her (don't worry, I ain't her *****, she gave me more than enough fuel and this chick I wouldn't touch with YOUR ****), and then actually posted again seriously before she even got in the door to her house, to say she was home.
We were gone for maybe 15 minutes all up. ._.

yeah contently updating your myspace, twitter .ect every few minute seems to bit too much.

it's good for a few moments
(ex : you may be planning to go out with sum friends and you want to tell everyone you're out on the town so maybe a few people reply and join your group)

but i don't think anyone wants to be updated on me going to the store late in the day, crossing the street, being caught in the rain, finally gettin to the store just for it to close .etc all in the span of 2 minutes.

the mobile myspace for the ipod touch is pretty cool thou lol

 

[Deep Dish]

Seems like we've just completely evolved(or devolved) into this self-obsessed society where we worship ourselves and think our every minute thought is worthy of public attention.

We are animals. We are social animals. We are social animals who need to engage in communal rituals and attract a mate. In the words of evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, we are gene machines of selfish genes looking endlessly to propagate ourselves. This includes boasting ourselves and always courting attention (law 6 of the 48 laws of power, for those who are curious).

 

[speakeasy]

We are animals. We are social animals. We are social animals who need to engage in communal rituals and attract a mate. In the words of evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, we are gene machines of selfish genes looking endlessly to propagate ourselves. This includes boasting ourselves and always courting attention (law 6 of the 48 laws of power, for those who are curious).

You know what man? You may be completely right. When I think about, the people who are online updating their status incessantly are almost always single. In fact one girl who used to never update anything on facebook, I noticed one day she changed her relationship status to single(she'd had a boyfriend for awhile),and after that I tend saw her making status changes everyday. So I guess there is a strong correlation between mating pressures and digital attention-whoring.

 

[Luthor Rex]

So I guess there is a strong correlation between mating pressures and digital attention-whoring.

I think it would be awesome if an EP researcher did a study about that. I think it would also be awesome if a researcher did a study to figure out what it is in tequila that makes a girl's clothes fall off.

 

[r0cky]

I think it would be awesome if an EP researcher did a study about that. I think it would also be awesome if a researcher did a study to figure out what it is in tequila that makes a girl's clothes fall off.

A yet better study would be on the correlation of free time and complaining about networking sites.

 

[Kupid Diggs]

Funny that this subject should come up. Just last Tuesday while standing in a long line at my new University, I met a very attractive girl. We stood in line together and chatted on and off for about 1 hour. We hit it off really well and I could tell that she was diggin' me. Anyway I went for her number and got it. But I put in my phone wrong. I knew it was wrong because when I looked the number up a day later, I noticed it was 11 digits instead of 10. I accidentally added an extra digit somewhere(those damn Palm Centro touchscreens) . I tried about 6-7 different number combinations but failed. As a last ditch effort I looked up her name on Facebook and found her. Even though its rare, Facebook actually helped me out for once. Moral of the story, look at the glass half-full and utilize the tools you have around you to your advantage...