Everyone is Watching

Thursday, April 5, 2007

We may think everyone cares about our every little detail. Perhaps we were brought up with a higher level of self esteem and self importance. We’re raised to believe that we’re all winners and we’re all important (Thanks, Mom). But, do people really care about what we’re always doing?

I’m talking about sites like Twitter. It’s all about status updates. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a website that merely acts as the Facebook Status feature does. This simple site is exploding in popularity. Even John Edwards is using it!

Apparently many of us care enough to receive many updates from many people… many times a day!

But do people really care? I’m not sure.

Do we have the time to process all this information? I doubt it.

Effective and efficient relationships

Do you have the time? One of my biggest pet peeves is people who say they’re “too busy” and have “so much to do”. When I think about it, I know I spend more time caring about people’s Facebook status and pictures than I should. It seems like a waste of time but it also seems so easy to create and maintain relationships this way.

In the day and age where a huge percentage of twenty to thirtysomethings face depression, having these simple connections may not be such a bad thing. You easily keep in touch with people you can care about; people who can genuinely reciprocate with very little effort.

There’s obviously a reason why I create these online profiles and blogs. I feel like when I’m writing people are listening. They know that when they do the same, I’ll be listening, too. We’re having indirect conversations. I don’t need someone like Noah to leave a comment to know he reads and cares. I don’t even need my Dad to mention my blog. I know they’re around and keeping “in touch.”

Watching me like a hawk

I thought it was odd to think people would watch a profile closely enough to notice the changes. In fact, at first I found it silly my friend removed all her Facebook updates so nobody could see them. This was when Facebook added News Feeds and people thought it was creepy. Friends could easily tell what was going on all the time. Yes, it’s different, but it’s extremely simple to keep my friends “in the know” and vice versa. My life is pushed out to all of them instead of individually pulled out of me.

I really understood this the other day when every one of the five people I talked to had already seen my China pictures. Within 12 hours! These weren’t just my super close friends, either…

“Yeah, I put some pictures from China online if you want to check them out..”

“I saw them already.”

“…oh”

So, yes, it appears that everyone is watching and we all have some time to care. But, its the same as anything else: it has to be a priority. We’re all “too busy”, right? For me, keeping in touch with friends is a priority. So, yes, I saw their pictures from Spring Break the next morning, too.

I find that both useful and powerful.