MyReaction to MySpace

So let’s not beat around the bush – I’ve been morally opposed to MySpace since I was first introduced to it several years ago. Maybe “morally opposed” is a bit strong, but I definitely haven’t been the biggest fan. My familiarity with MySpace began when a couple of my co-workers (we’ll call them “Gabbie” and “Penny”) first signed up and started really getting into it. The two eventually convinced others at work to sign up, and at one point Penny even created an account for me. I tried it for about a week and ended up deleting it. I didn’t really see the point – I talked to most of my friends in person anyway. Why bother creating a profile explaining myself when everybody around me already knew me? Also, I wasn’t that stuck on the type of people I was seeing on the site – in all honesty, they didn’t look like the types of people I would generally call my “friends.” And speaking of friends, the whole idea of “friends” seems a little contrived. I mean, Penny and Gabbie have both received invitations from complete strangers asking to be included as their “friends.” I’ve even seen kids hold contests to see who could accumulate a bigger list of “friends.” Did I miss something? Is that the shallow level “friendship” has stooped to?

Everybody is saying that MySpace (as well as other social networking sites) are the wave of the future. I looked at several library pages that are trying to play into this craze, and honestly, am still struggling to see how well they really fit in. I guess I’m having difficulty in deciding how I feel about the whole thing in general. I’ll admit it – I’ve recently been doing a lot more on Gmail, using the chat feature, etc., and must confess, it’s been a lot of fun. I was pretty skeptical when I first created my blog, but that too has been enjoyable. To be honest, I think I need to be careful – it almost becomes addicting. It’s very easy for me to get caught up in the whole “I wonder if I have a new comment on my page – I’d better check again” mentality. I’ve always thought that computers were supposed to be time-savers, and yet I’m finding them becoming increasingly time-consumers. It’s very easy to squander an entire evening surfing the web or playing around on some of these sites.

Okay, so I could probably ramble on endlessly about this but since nobody’s reading anyway I might as well stop here. I’ll just say, it’s with great skepticism and reluctance that I venture into the world of MySpace, but . . . . . . since there IS a free flash drive, mp3 player, and laptop computer at stake . . . . . . here goes! Bring it on, MySpace!!!