Social networking sites suck

[recluse]

I'm a member of three social networking sites only because an old college friend invited me. These sites make me feel even more alienated and depressed because I see other people with huge lists of friends while I have 4 at the most. Also seeing their pictures makes me jealous because everyone seems to be having fun partying and stuff. I'm thinking of quitting these sites because they are making me more depressed.

 

[nesh]

Same here! I hate em. I signed up to Myspace after hell of a lot of convincing from a friend. I kept telling him how shit it was as a (functional) website let alone what it's about. I joined anyway to stop him telling me how amazing it was and then I couldn't figure out what to write in my profile. About Me... hmmm.... loser, no mates, spends weekends alone in front of his computer... I'd write something and then change it over and over, it never seemed right. Plus, who gives a shit who I am? No ones going to look at my profile, they're all too obsessed with their own. I decided to use it to keep up with artists that I'm interested in and unless I've got something to promote myself I'll leave my profile blank and avoid sounding like a wannabe loser. At the end of the day it's a popularity contest to see who's got the most friends who can put up the most photos of themselves out and about having a good time. Who cares!

Then again I might just be miserable. I'm sure if I had more of a life and was more social I might find it a useful site, but like you say, at the moment these sites just makes me feel even more depressed and alienated.

 

[recluse]

I much prefer site like this one where I am anomyonous and can write what I like.

 

[SocialRetahd]

I find it lame to document your friends situation.

 

[TAMPA-BAY]

Hey people they do have social networking sites for people like us. Just ask around and youll find them. I can't write them here for ovious reasons but if you look around youll find other sites.

 

[of_darkness]

Well i'm perfectly happy, i have a facebook and myspace... but since when did massive lists of friends count? Maybe they just need to prove something by doing that, noone can possibly know over a hundred friends THAT well, I certainly don't. (oh yeah, we have SP.....) but still, i have about 70 on myspace. Some I don't directly know, but most are just people I don't really talk to at school.

Look, have you not noticed the culture involved in social networking sites? all off the begging for comments in repeated bulletings? comment my pics! comment me! talk to me!! i'll comment you back! or even "wow look at this way to get over 1000 friends!!"

you don't need any of that, and that's all the sites bring. apart from having occasional friend contacts, they mean nothing for meeting new people and mproving SP.




but then again, myspace is incredible music wise!!

 

[Day_Tripper]

I totally know what you mean about Facebook and Myspace. It is a bit embarrassing having fewer friends then most members with a huge social life. I try to not let it get me down.

 

[fruitbat]

They're not so bad. I'm on Facebook, but I never use it, and on MySpace, which I use occassionally. I have twenty-something friends on MySpace--many of them bands, and even less on Facebook. But having tiny friendlists doesn't bother me.

I think it can be nice to have a profile so my aquaintances can know something about me, since they'd never know anything otherwise. But even that doesn't really matter anymore since the only people on there are people I knew from high school who I never see or talk to anyway.

 

[Aquamarine]

On My space I've got over 200 people on my friends list. None of them are anyone I know personally. Most of these friends on myspace list are bands, singers, artists, novelists, films and characters like monsters and ghosts. Only 2 or 3 genuine people send me the occasional "Have a nice week" post every 7 days. I doubt I'll ever meet them as they live in another country.

The trick of finding real friends on these sites is to discover what your interests are (for example mine is ghosts) and locate a few profiles in that catagory. You may meet someone on there who shares your interests and lives near you.

Also don't worry about not putting anything in your "About Me" info. I had exactly the same problem for a long time. I left "About Me" blank for ages but found a way through it and I filled in that area with pictures and quiz results such as "What kind of Princess are you".

It seems that most people on myspace have others they personally know on their list as they keep leaving messages all the time. I also think for many people who post bulletins asking for everyone to comment on their pics is an ego trip for them. A lot of people I've come across on myspace are outgoing, party-party types who are senstive, delicate souls really, not very deep thinking people.

 

[sickofbeinglonely]

I can really relate to this thread. I registered with MySpace at the end of last year and have done nothing with it until recently.

I'm beginning to think I seriously suffer from Avoidant Personality Disorder, not just SA and OCD. There are loads of bands on there that I'm interested in (mostly nobody's ever heard of!!)but I can't even feel right about requesting them!! I fear that anyone who sees my page will just find me completely uninteresting!

But I know I really need to put myself out there. I have virtually no friends at the moment and really need to make contacts even if everyone I add suffers from Social Phobia. I've actually stated in the "About Me" section that I've got OCD and SA. I'm still undecided about whether this is a good idea or not but I prefer to be honest.

Anyway if anyone is interested in adding me let me know and I'll put the address on here.

 

[Butterflies]

Who cares what other's are doing on those sites... their not REAL. I had a friend sign up recently who has stuff plastered all over her funwall. She doesn't even know these people.

Better to have a few special friendships than 100's with no depth.

 

[TAMPA-BAY]

Social networking sites

You guys are all wrong. You are just on the wrong types of social networking sites. Ask around and others will point you to the right social networking sites. My space and Face book aren't the only two. You have all kinds of networking sites even some for people like us. I do think this site should up date its design tho. Its dam near impossable to communicate with others on this site cause the message sometimes takes months to reach someone.

 

[Snerkable]

I think what we're forgetting here is that it's ridiculous to compare ourselves to other people in such a manner, all that will come from that is fostering our feelings of inferiority. Who cares if you have a small friend list or that you don't have a million pictures depicting someone giving you an atomic wedgie whilst you're drunk? Anyone who criticizes you for having a realistic or small friend count probably wouldn't make for a good friend anyways as they'd be too judgemental and "sceney" to care about something as trivial as a myspace account.

Social networking sites are actually a great way to communicate with current and new friends. People with social phobia such as myself have a huge depth of empathy and sensitivity for other people, and I've used that to help random people from across the globe with myraids of problems. The world today is starved for compassion and understanding, and most other people are too egotistical to provide it. I've found a lot of people I talk to continue to talk to me even though I've never met them in real life. Show your ability for empathy as derived from being humbled by SP and you'll find you'll gain a lot of confidence in your social ability. Of course, there's a huge difference between real life communication and typing, but a walk of a thousand miles starts with a single step.
I encourage other SP'ers to use myspace or what have you and get uh talkin!