L.O.L. Smiley Face: A Social Meltdown

"Shawty just txt me, said she wanna sex me. L.O.L. smiley face. L.O.L. smiley face. Shawty sent a twitpic sayin' come and get this. L.O.L. smiley face. L.O.L. smiley face."

That's a catchy song if I've ever heard one. But sadly, this song is what our society has come to. We text one another sexual desires. Our entire relationships play out over Facebook, from single to complicated to in a relationship, engaged, married. I won't be surprised if "divorced" in an option soon. I don't even have to call my bruhs anymore to see what they're doing tonight because Twitter updates or Facebook's mini-feed will let me know. Where is the intimacy?

I recently changed the "About Me" section on Facebook to reveal as little about me as I can aside from some quotes and that which is pretty much public knowledge (i.e. organizational affiliations). I also removed my birth date because I feel like way too many people who do not know me at all know my birthday and wish me a happy birthday. Having over 500 wall posts in 1 day doesn't do a thing but make one more egotistical for that one day. But I'm sure that only 1% of my Facebook "friends" know my birthday (excluding family). More than I'd want someone to remember it though, I'd just like for them to ask. I want you to know my favorite type of music or my favorite movie or book because you took the time to get to know me, not because you can click the "Add Friend" button and read about me. To me, that seems so fake. Don't get me wrong, I love Facebook. I might be on more than 80% of my online associates. But it was initially intended to help people stay in touch, not to find out everything about someone.

The song doesn't just talk about social networking though. It talks about texting some crazy stuff. You would think that people would've learned by now not to send any crazy messages that the world is bound to see if you ever make it big. Nothing can be hidden from the media. So why have I gotten some of the craziest texts from the most random girls? Really, hold yourself to a higher standard. If you want to come on to a guy (esp. one who you don't even know) call him. Don't send him some crazy text or Facebook message or AIM him or anything like that. He just might show the message to his boys. I'm being real because, even though that's not my M.O., I have seen enough crazy text/picture messages to know that it can happen.

We're so caught up in our technology that we don't know how to communicate with people anymore. We text people and write on their Facebook wall to ask them on a date. What happened to getting the courage up to call someone and ask them out? Or instead of writing on someone's wall each time we want to check on them, how about we actually give them a call sometimes. I'd rather hear a friendly voice than my fingers tapping some keys. So if I have your number, I might be giving you a call sometime instead of chatting with you online. I hope you'll do the same. Let's get out of the habit of impersonally communicating. All it does is dumbs us down.
S.M.H.
:-(

Litera scripta manet. - Unknown