obsession

Being a 20 year old female the number of communication channels between me and my friends are increasing quickly, where once I was only accessible in person or through the house phone as I grew up, I can now list 8 different communication channels that are used daily and for many others this number may be much higher, so while the average person spends 55 minutes a day on Facebook today I will spend my 55 minutes wondering why we are all so obsessed with constant communication?  

On my Facebook profile to date I have 383 ‘friends’, now I can honestly tell you that I do not have 383 friends. I am on the internet daily, I use search engines, read blogs, use social networking sites, things that many other young adults do, things that everyone on the internet does but will it ever get too much? The internet is so now well used that whole relationships can be built without ever meeting in person, just by looking at a ‘friends’ Facebook page you can tell, birthdays, fashion sense, music taste, wether they are single or in a relationship, and events they have been to, their friends and so much other stuff that would under any other circumstance be kept private and know by those who you communicate with regularly, but now I can know everything about the girl that left my primary school in year 4 that I have not spoken to since she left and most probably never will again, and yet I will still browse her profile every once in a while, for no apparent reason. 

Stephana Broadbent did a talk on TED, she expressed her opinion on how the internet can be used to create intimacy between people, that by using so many different forms of communication we break an imposed isolation. People usually communicate with around 5 people in their intimate sphere daily yet the average user has 120 ‘friends’ on Facebook, however considering the safety issues associated with social networking many of the more positive aspects can be overlooked, for instant families living in other countries can stay connected easily and  are allowed to communicate whenever they please. The relationships that people have are dominant and to some extent people know each other more, with regular status updates and opinions being expressed more than ever and to a mass audience, it is easy to feel a closeness to those around you. These relationships can be built between people, businesses, brands and even events or ideas, the internet has been given no limitations.

The extent of social networking sites has lead to south park doing an episode based around people becoming obsessed and living a life on the web, one different to their reality. This particular clip shows the idea that a relationship is not really official until it’s confirmed on Facebook, it made me laugh, because as surprising as it may be, it’s accurate.