The Social Media Filter pt. 2: My Stance

**House Keeping**
  My goal for creating the debate topic posts has been to present you all with a situation or observation and (hopefully) spark some conversation about it.  I try to state my opinion of it simply, and leave it up to the readers to discuss without me directing it too much.  In this case, I've been asked to elaborate on my opinion (*Waves to Hazel & Domo*), so this is that.

  I feel like we are losing sight of the power of social media.  I create a profile, upload a profile pic, enter some basic info, Google indexes it, then anybody that searches something similar can get access to that information.  That visibility is too often over-looked by this generation.  I know a lot of things that I shouldn't about people I don't know, barely know, or have never met.  People get tunnel vision when using social media, thinking that it's just them & their online friends in the circle of trust...when really, some 60 year old guy in his tighty-whities is reading your tweets about how you are about to finger-bang your night away (FTR, I wear boxers).

The Social Media Filter

  Social media connects people in ways that previously weren't possible or weren't preferred.  My friend in Canada can go to my Facebook page and see my latest activity, but so can that creepy chick that I just accepted as a friend out of sympathy.  Also, a company that I'm applying for can search my profile to see what I do in my personal life before they hire me (That's the reason I take down the pics of me smiling at the camera while drunkenly mounting a chick bent over my coffee table before I interview). Now, with some properly applied privacy settings, the people that you aren't close to can only get a limited portion of your online shenanigans.  However, what about those you are close with?

Extra Thought: Mood Muzik 4 Edition

  Joe Budden & Gnarls Barkley (Cee-Lo) are the best at putting out cleverly put, introspective, honest songs (my opinion...but it's a fact. Look it up on Yahoo Answers, I'll wait).  Mood Muzik 4 is more of the same from Joey, and if you listen to lyrics you will catch some jewels.

  One of which is this line from 1000 faces:

"...what hurts more: the act of being cut off or realizing that your two cents wasn't worth more?"

  I've been through this many times.  Whether it be a significant other, a close friend or family member, you become accustomed to being involved in that person's life.  You might just be a shoulder to cry on, a person to vent to, or looked to for advice but the bond that you form with that person in the process is deeper and more profound.  The fact that somebody trusts you enough to share the not so pleasant parts of their life with you and (at times) values your assessment of it is a...validating experience.  Not so much as an ego boost, but more so as a confirmation that you can be allowed into someone's life & provide support for them.

Smoking isn't cool, but check out the album here

Drunken Rant: 10/16/2010

***The following rant was composed roughly between the hours of 3am & 4am.  Not sure what sparked this, but I made some points worth salvaging from the bowels of Twitter.  If it seems fragmented, it's because they were in tweet form.  As always, take what I saw with a grain of salt, followed by a shot of tequila...a lime chaser is suggested, but not required.***

I ate this McGangBang before I started drinking...Obviously, I was re-evaluating my life afterward

   "Listen...Life is full of double standards, oxymorons, and ingenious idiots...u just have to find your grove and stop worrying about the rest.  Actions speak louder than words. But when you're my close friend & I don't hit you up...it just be's like that. I'm still down for you.   Sometimes you can get by off of a feeling or an intent. But meaning to do something & doing something are 2 completely different things.  
 

Debate: I Don't Have To Like You...Right?

  We all have friends (or think we do), and a part of life is meeting your friend's significant other.  However, like with other people we meet, it's up in the air whether or not we will like them...and I don't see a problem with that.  This could be a big problem or a small side note depending on how often you are forced to be in the same place, but it will come up at some point.

"Stupid Bitch" (Pic from Big Bang Theory courtesy of ausiellofiles.ew.com)

Anti-Social Networking

  Social networking has been around forever...literally.  The locations & list of approved electronic devices has grown, but it's nothing new.  I remember some of the other sites I would frequent to see what was new with my friends & flirt with girls:

Hold up, let me update my status real quick

  -The Playground
 This was the first sight I can remember craving.  All the users were my demographic, so it was easy to connect with them.  It had the best built in games that weren't obnoxious.  If I wanted to know how well Rico was doing on the monkey bars, I just had to walk over and find out.  If I wanted some multi-player games, I could play tag or get on the merry-go-round.  Site security was an issue sometimes though, as I had to get parental permission to access it, I had to watch out for pedo's offering candy, & I could easily pick up a virus from the hardware.  Not sure when...but I just outgrew it.

Extra Thought: Substantial

  I often think about life and how I want to move forward in it.  Every now and then, a certain word will stand out to me as a motivator/battle cry/attitude.  It humors me that a normal, every day word can randomly stand out and have a more profound meaning when you think about its definition. 

  The word that has stood out to me as of late is 'Substantial'.  There are a lot of things in life that we give our attention to, some more important than others.  My focus needs to be on those substantial things that will affect me the greatest.  I want everything that I'm associated with to be substantial.