Social Networking – Part Two
On April 27, 2008 (two posts ago) I explained a little of what we now know of SOCIAL Networking…
This is part two….
Wikipedia describes Social Networking as using software to build Social Networks. Some of the examples that are given in the definition are - Popular methods now combine many of these, with MySpace and Facebook being the most widely used in North America, Bebo, MySpace, Skyrock Blog , Facebook and Hi5 in parts of Europe, Orkut and Hi5 in South America and Central America, Friendster, Orkut and CyWorld in Asia and the Pacific Islands.
And all of these plus another 1900 (as of April 2008) are used by anyone that wants to – anywhere. You could conceivably be in each group – everywhere – all the time.
It is not just for young teenagers – old people are here by the millions as well. In one popular group called Facebook, they are adding 100 – 125 thousand people per day – or over 1 million per week. One half of the people on Facebook are over 35 years old and over 100 Thousand are over 64 years of age!
I use Skype, a computer program to talk and communicate with people - anywhere. It is free. At any one time when I use it, from 6:00 AM through to 7:30 AM – there are about 7 to 12 million other people using it at the same time.
Do these figures stagger your mind? They rock me. It is hard to fathom this when my “real world” might have six contacts a day. Or in the case of a quiet day at the office when no one is sick or in trouble – I get none – zero – zip – nada – nothing – no phone calls.
In my computer world I am rocked by the contacts.
A few years ago AOL, a computer service provider, had a clever little sound bite that said, “You’ve got mail..”. We could never have that happen today – most of us have buckets of email that drive us crazy with that kind of voice in the background. Add to that Facebook that has become a secondary(maybe even primary) conversation tool… then YouTube with its comments section…. And it takes time from an already busy day.
I came across an interesting fact – 68% of the people that go to YouTube spend more than 6 minutes a day watching videos in the USA. I know from personal experience in the YouTube video work that is almost impossible to get on (or very slow) right after school gets out during each day… and again in the evening after the kids go to bed. First the younger population is on and then second the older population takes over the family computer when the kids are not there.
So how does Social Networking affect our people…?
Well – one thing you should notice – it takes time to communicate with everyone. Just like a “real visit” with a face to face communication it takes time. The difference is that you do not have to travel to talk to some one….you click on and you’re good to go. And add to that you can talk with two or more people at the same time.
But the difficulty is that with too many communications at the same time the quality of the actual things being exchanged or shared drops. Your mind can only receive one thing at a time. We have to move from one conversation to the next. Sometimes we will miss what someone is saying because the conversation is too intense in another area.
Problem 1
We have “real relationships” – i.e. husband and wife relationships suffering from “Social Networking-itis”. A wife can talk to her husband while he is at the computer and he will not hear her – even when she sits beside him! Problem one – “real communication” drops off to nothing.
I know a husband and wife that email each other, or Facebook each other from two different rooms in the same house. They do not talk. When they drive somewhere, in a car alone, they do not talk. They are both thinking about what they will say next when they are back at their computer – to their friends.
Problem 2
People are addicted to their “Social Networking” and to Computers in general. China is the first country to force their people into Computer Addiction Recovery Groups. If someone deems that a person is being deeply affected by his or her use of computers and it is felt that they are addicted – they are forced into a program to de-program them.
Problem 3
There was a period of time when we heard the horror stories of men or women that “met someone” on an internet chat room and then left their mate for that new “special someone”.
The newer problem that is surfacing, people are having affairs from a keyboard without hurting anyone else. They do not leave physically. They have given all their time, their energy, their emotion and their whole being to the person that they think they know on the other end of the computer connections.
The “real relationship” that they so much enjoyed is no longer satisfying.
Problem 4
The excessive use of the computer has robbed some of their quality time with God himself.
Along time ago – in fact the first story of “Social Networking” that I know was that of Adam and God in a marvelous garden called Eden. They walked and talked together until Adam and Eve (or was it Eve and Adam) messed it up. If you know the story – Adam was naked – no clothes and no computer. And God and Adam talked.
Place the story of Adam and God in today’s world… Adam would be buying the biggest, fastest, coolest and cleanest computer and God would be looking at his watch in the Garden – Adam would be a “no show”.
Am I concerned? You better believe it. I am concerned what computers have done to me – not you. I have to limit my usage – just like everyone else. And it is hard.
As much as I appreciate you taking time to read this – please stop now and go to talk to a real person. Walk and talk with you husband or wife. Call someone on a regular telephone and see if they will leave their keyboard and go for a tea or coffee.
For goodness sake try the “REAL WORLD” it is filled with real people that need a little of your time.
For God’s sake – talk to HIM today. He is waiting for you and me. Yesterday or the day before we were both “No shows”. He is wanting to listen to you.
One last thing – God is not on Facebook, there are no YouTube videos of him and he has yet to get an email address. He responds quickly to “Hi God”, “Are you there?”, “Help!” and any other thing you might throw out there. The conversation will flow from that. Trust me.
~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~
Social Networking - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking
God on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God
This is part two….
Wikipedia describes Social Networking as using software to build Social Networks. Some of the examples that are given in the definition are - Popular methods now combine many of these, with MySpace and Facebook being the most widely used in North America, Bebo, MySpace, Skyrock Blog , Facebook and Hi5 in parts of Europe, Orkut and Hi5 in South America and Central America, Friendster, Orkut and CyWorld in Asia and the Pacific Islands.
And all of these plus another 1900 (as of April 2008) are used by anyone that wants to – anywhere. You could conceivably be in each group – everywhere – all the time.
It is not just for young teenagers – old people are here by the millions as well. In one popular group called Facebook, they are adding 100 – 125 thousand people per day – or over 1 million per week. One half of the people on Facebook are over 35 years old and over 100 Thousand are over 64 years of age!
I use Skype, a computer program to talk and communicate with people - anywhere. It is free. At any one time when I use it, from 6:00 AM through to 7:30 AM – there are about 7 to 12 million other people using it at the same time.
Do these figures stagger your mind? They rock me. It is hard to fathom this when my “real world” might have six contacts a day. Or in the case of a quiet day at the office when no one is sick or in trouble – I get none – zero – zip – nada – nothing – no phone calls.
In my computer world I am rocked by the contacts.
A few years ago AOL, a computer service provider, had a clever little sound bite that said, “You’ve got mail..”. We could never have that happen today – most of us have buckets of email that drive us crazy with that kind of voice in the background. Add to that Facebook that has become a secondary(maybe even primary) conversation tool… then YouTube with its comments section…. And it takes time from an already busy day.
I came across an interesting fact – 68% of the people that go to YouTube spend more than 6 minutes a day watching videos in the USA. I know from personal experience in the YouTube video work that is almost impossible to get on (or very slow) right after school gets out during each day… and again in the evening after the kids go to bed. First the younger population is on and then second the older population takes over the family computer when the kids are not there.
So how does Social Networking affect our people…?
Well – one thing you should notice – it takes time to communicate with everyone. Just like a “real visit” with a face to face communication it takes time. The difference is that you do not have to travel to talk to some one….you click on and you’re good to go. And add to that you can talk with two or more people at the same time.
But the difficulty is that with too many communications at the same time the quality of the actual things being exchanged or shared drops. Your mind can only receive one thing at a time. We have to move from one conversation to the next. Sometimes we will miss what someone is saying because the conversation is too intense in another area.
Problem 1
We have “real relationships” – i.e. husband and wife relationships suffering from “Social Networking-itis”. A wife can talk to her husband while he is at the computer and he will not hear her – even when she sits beside him! Problem one – “real communication” drops off to nothing.
I know a husband and wife that email each other, or Facebook each other from two different rooms in the same house. They do not talk. When they drive somewhere, in a car alone, they do not talk. They are both thinking about what they will say next when they are back at their computer – to their friends.
Problem 2
People are addicted to their “Social Networking” and to Computers in general. China is the first country to force their people into Computer Addiction Recovery Groups. If someone deems that a person is being deeply affected by his or her use of computers and it is felt that they are addicted – they are forced into a program to de-program them.
Problem 3
There was a period of time when we heard the horror stories of men or women that “met someone” on an internet chat room and then left their mate for that new “special someone”.
The newer problem that is surfacing, people are having affairs from a keyboard without hurting anyone else. They do not leave physically. They have given all their time, their energy, their emotion and their whole being to the person that they think they know on the other end of the computer connections.
The “real relationship” that they so much enjoyed is no longer satisfying.
Problem 4
The excessive use of the computer has robbed some of their quality time with God himself.
Along time ago – in fact the first story of “Social Networking” that I know was that of Adam and God in a marvelous garden called Eden. They walked and talked together until Adam and Eve (or was it Eve and Adam) messed it up. If you know the story – Adam was naked – no clothes and no computer. And God and Adam talked.
Place the story of Adam and God in today’s world… Adam would be buying the biggest, fastest, coolest and cleanest computer and God would be looking at his watch in the Garden – Adam would be a “no show”.
Am I concerned? You better believe it. I am concerned what computers have done to me – not you. I have to limit my usage – just like everyone else. And it is hard.
As much as I appreciate you taking time to read this – please stop now and go to talk to a real person. Walk and talk with you husband or wife. Call someone on a regular telephone and see if they will leave their keyboard and go for a tea or coffee.
For goodness sake try the “REAL WORLD” it is filled with real people that need a little of your time.
For God’s sake – talk to HIM today. He is waiting for you and me. Yesterday or the day before we were both “No shows”. He is wanting to listen to you.
One last thing – God is not on Facebook, there are no YouTube videos of him and he has yet to get an email address. He responds quickly to “Hi God”, “Are you there?”, “Help!” and any other thing you might throw out there. The conversation will flow from that. Trust me.
~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~
Social Networking - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking
God on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God
posted by Murray Lincoln at
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
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