A Growing Hatred. (A Rant).
My hatred of MSN and facebook, and other such tools of the devil, is growing these days. (I don't even use facebook, and have promised myself I never will, merely because it takes so much time, and I'd rather be doing other things. Plus, it intimidates me.:)
But this is not the point.
I was sitting in my Third World History class today and we had a guest speaker who worked in Darfur, Sudan for the past seven months with Doctor's Without Borders. It was really interesting, and I realize not everyone is a huge nerd, but the guy beside me was making my soul die.
He was on his laptop listening to music and messing around with facebook and MSN through the whole lecture. I'm not a particularly violent person, but I had to muster all my self control in order to not slap him. Not only was he making stupid little comments on facebook while this woman is teaching the class, but he was a big enough idiot to snicker to himself the whole time, while this woman described the slaughter and displacement of thousands of people.
This is unrelated to my general hatred of MSN and facebook, but it really got me angry enough to sit down and write a blog. I don't like MSN, and its slowly getting the cut from my life.
Obviously, it's good for some things, but as a tool for conversation and relationship, its sucks and I hate it. Not only does it take one hundred times longer to talk to someone on MSN, but its much less meaningful and cheapened compared a face to face conversation.
I want to spend my days doing things that are meaningful and enriching.
If I realize that I am responsible for what I do with every day and also remember everything that is important to me, I would want to use my time differently.
posted by Maria Elyse at 2:34 PM
11 Comments:
good points... MSN is like a social drug - addicting and harmful for relationships. I wonder how long I can go without using it? Probably not very long. I should start an online support group, maybe we can talk about it over MSN.
4:41 PM
haha. Yes good call. I gave it up for lent last year...without realizing how LONG lent really was.
It was a painful experience for sure, but a good one.
6:22 PM
amen and amen.
and the irony of it all is that we are discussing our contempt for technology and anonymous conversation by way of your blog... (myself included.)
i'm just finishing up a research paper on how modern technology has contributed to the epidemic of loneliness within our society. it's amazing how we can gain a false sense of security, companionship (or dare i say love?) from getting an email, having someone post a comment on our blog, or by even checking sitemeter to see how many people have visited our blog in the past day.
i love technology because it's easy. but that's not a good thing. i think in our desire for "easyness" (which is also called laziness) we have exchanged true relationality for an empty, objectified interaction with another computer disguised as a person.
My confession...
things i hate: myspace, cell phones.
things i wish i hated: tv, blogging, and msn.
i could go on and on, but i'll spare you...
7:05 PM
It’s true. I know it’s a bit ironic to have a blog, when I claim to hate conversations that take place on MSN, and so on.
I'm trying to figure out how blogging fits in.
One thing that makes it stand apart, at least for me, is I like writing, and blogging is such a great way of getting into the habit of writing, and sharing your writing with other people. I also spend a lot less time blogging than on say, MSN.
I understand what you are saying though! I guess in my mind we fall short when our thoughts and conversations are trapped on the internet, and are never purposefully expressed with other people in reality. It’s so "easy" (as you said) to be honest and open behind the security of technology, but in my mind its a false transparency. If we can only be open and honest and reflective behind the mask of a computer we have a problem.
I hate cell phones too. :)
(Now I'm going to log off this so I don't look like a complete hypocrite. :)
7:33 PM
yeah, lent IS a really long time. In Bolivia (I'm from there) we just had city-wide water fights - none of this "fasting" business. throwing water balloons at people is way eaiser than giving up things we really like. I wish Hamilton had city-wide waterfights... wait.. I take that back, I don't wish that at all.
6:19 PM
Facebook definitely DOES suck. I've had it for about a month, but I don't really use it for anything anymore. It's even worse than MSN because now people do all of their conversations with others by posting messages on their walls. No joke, I can find you full back-and-forth wall postings by people which will give you a full converstaion; pretty lame. As for MSN, I can't say I hate it yet. I'm able to use it to talk to my friends from Honduras. I'm able to talk to family and friends that I haven't seen for a while. But I try not to use it for people who I know I will see around here. I don't think I've had an MSN conversation in a week in fact. Blogs are cool though; I agree with you there. Too bad I don't like writing enough to keep one :)
10:48 AM
Ya I agree, Mike.
MSN certainly has its uses. :)
I know, you need to blog more, so I can distract myself from homework more! :)
3:00 PM
Or I will come on MSN more often and we can waste the night away with impersonable conversations. :P I sense one coming on soon.
OR you can get Facebook and we can be totally dumb and post on each other's walls.
5:24 PM
haha.
Fair enough. :)
1:29 AM
So because this guy in class was "misusing facebook and msn" when he should have been listening to the heart throbbing story of third world countries, msn is the bad guy?
Why don’t u cash out of university with the money you have left and move to Africa to help those kids?
Facebook and msn were brought to us so we would have something to do during class. I think it’s the teachers fault for their crappy lecturing approaches.
(PLEASE NOTE: I’m just busting your balls, you make a good point)
6:40 PM
Yes indeed.
No need to cash in the university tuition when I can get an education that will in turn get me a job that will in turn allow me to adopt ten African children. (Adoption fees are quite expensive, you know. :)
And actually, the lecture was very good. Msn and facebook have just robbed the world of the ability to concentrate for ten minutes on anything.
12:35 AM
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