My own "social experiment."

And so I’ve been pretty much under the radar in the “social networking” world lately. It’s not mainly because I’ve been busy with work the past weeks (well, I really WAS), but I just felt like giving up that habit. It's like, let’s say, quitting smoking ingrained as a daily ritual—I turned cold turkey, or something. There wasn’t a major event that happened to me which triggered this decision. Don’t get me wrong okay, I didn’t turn into living like a hermit, a snobby, anti-social being… Turned to anti-FB or anti-Twitter perhaps? Not really, but I realized that I don’t like the general idea that it’s ALL OUT THERE (their privacy settings, no matter how private you set it, is just crap). Was I fooled by these social networking sites all this time? Maybe. But let's just say that I'm a bit wiser now.  

So here's my social experiment. What will happen when I've refrained from it? What will I now do then? Well, I felt that it’s about time to go back to really getting in touch with people intimately (and privately) again.

The tendency then was to “watch” people to update their lives in the News Feed. It’s like watching a newscast on TV: here are your friends, broadcasting the minutest and mundane details of their lives, yet there’s a glass wall separating you and them. You see their comments, their photos, Oh so, she likes to party. That one, I get it. Then you tend to disregard or put-off asking them “how are you?” in its truest sense since you already know what’s happening with them. But do you KNOW, really? 

I was once read a quote saying, "If someone wants to be a part of your life, they'll make an effort to be in it." Isn’t it great to receive a “how are you?” out of the blue because he/she truly remembered you and not because you shouted out or posted something in your Wall? Because they really want to know what you're going through, what's deep inside of you apart from and beyond your shared location, links, or "likes"? I think it would even feel better if you stop being too much of yourself and do the same. Just give.

I figured it’s about time to get REAL once again. To build REAL relationships and not just superficial and practically virtual relationships. I'm so glad my VG friends, even if we don't post that much or comment in each other's post, everytime we see each other every week, our conversations seem endless. That's what I want. Not just the trivial. Not just shallow. Time to get REAL. 

So that's my social experiment. Let's see my world could change. :)