Mornings at work lately have been spent catching up on current events (read: bored) and this morning, as I was reading the Washington Post, I came across an article that at first shocked me, then kind of intrigued me a little. The article is about this new feature called AIMFight, basically a popularity contest on AIM. You type in your screen name and someone else's, and based on how many people have you on their buddy list and how many they have on theirs, and the same information on the person, the "winner" is supposedly more "popular."
That sounds confusing, doesnt it? Here, read the article first.
OK, now does it make a little sense? Are we really that desperate for popularity? I like the quote about halfway down the first page by Yogi Berra: "anyone who is popular is bound to be disliked." I think that pretty well sums it up. Think about all those girls in high school: for as many "friends" that they had, they had an equal if not larger number of people that truly hated them, often including those they counted as friends. I hate to think that we're trying to put this high school mentality into every day life.
But I am intrigued, and just as I believe human nature is, Ill probably go home tonight and try to figure out how to work it... The problem I see is when people, as they inevitably will, start taking it too seriously. The one kid at the end of the article said it well- "I don't feel the need to judge my social standing," Jackson goes on, "by how many people I talk to, or talk to me, online."
1 comment:
I like the Mark Twain quote in the article - "He liked to like people, therefore poeple liked him." It's amazing what people need in order to validate their existences on this planet - a boyfriend or girlfriend or lots of "friends". I consider myself lucky to have the few great friends that I do. Those who only want me around so that they appear to be popular? Well, they can go to hell, along with their Buddy List! I bet I'm happier in my life.
Post a Comment