What is the big woop with social media?

So I've always been a little behind when it comes to technology and the social media. I have a pride complex called, Refusetobeafolloweritis. Once I hear about something that everyone is doing and I just HAVE to do it, I'm immediately repulsed. This is true with most things, not just technology. For instance, I still don't get why Inception is the best movie ever. It sure did have cool stuff and effects in it, but I really was not impressed. And I think it had a lot to do with the fact that I saw it after everyone was lauding it with praise.

I also have never had to have all the latest fashions and such. Not my style. Not really in my budget either, but I've just never understood spending a ridiculous amount on one shirt just to have the label. It took me a long time to get into the music scene and I felt a lot of pressure for awhile to like certain types of music. I had a conversation once with a cousin of mine who is a fabulous musician and after telling him the type of music I liked he said, "Oh you like Top 40 stuff." I'm not sure if it was meant to be a put down, but I felt the superiority in his voice. It took several more years for me to finally admit, HECK YES I like Top 40. I like all kinds of music and am proud of it.

So it isn't a surprise to me that I'm not as tech savvy as I used to be. I hold dear to my memories of the 80's and would really appreciate it if we could go back to that decade and with every new technology or social media, we get further and further away from a time that I love dearly. Guess what? I still own VHS movies. For some of you, I mean, I own videocassette movies. They're the 8 tracks of the MP3's we now are starting to own. If you don't know what an 8 track is, ask someone else because you'll just make me want to slap you.

Some of you will be surprised to hear that I used to be major anti texting on the cell phone. I couldn't figure it out. I thought it was more of a hassle than anything. If you wanted to text me a meeting time and/or location, fine. If it turned into a conversation I would call you or just stop responding. I'm not sure when this changed, but I am now queen of the text. I rarely call anyone and am frustrated with people who refuse to add this important feature onto their phone. When I was living in Colorado I would send out mass texts to invite people over to parties at my home or to church related activities. What a great way to communicate details with people at one time! And more than one person has told me that after getting into a regular text relationship with me they've had to change their text plan to include unlimited texting. You're welcome!

What does any of this have to do with social media? I'm getting there. No one is forcing you to read this. Be patient. Anywho. I started out with MySpace. It was already a big deal by the time I ventured onto it. I had zero intention of joining but I was bored and just wanted to see what the big deal was. While looking around I found a guy that I had a crush on in high school and his profile listed him as gay. I was shocked and intrigued and wanted to know more. But in order to communicate I had to join so join I did. It was fun at first and it actually helped broaden my musical horizons. Facebook came second. Some friends at work mentioned that they had pictures on there and I really wanted to see them. Again, I had to join first. So join I did. It was boring compared to MySpace. No profile personalizing and such. Very simple. I later deleted my myspace because I was tired of skanky ads and girls showing up all over the place and facebook was getting more interesting. Now I am addicted in the worst way to facebook. I'm a shameless friend stalker. By that I mean, I look at all your stuff. I enjoy seeing others interactions with each other and funny antecdotes and all the good stuff that comes with it. I check facebook multiple times in a day and I'm not ashamed of it at all.

In the middle of all the MySpace and Facebook came Twitter. Oh twitter. I've resisted you for so long. I've ventured onto in only to be instantly turned off. I've never understood the point of it. It's like an endless status update. I really grew to hate it when people started being able to simutaneously update twitter and facebook. I mean, while I enjoy a lot of people's lives, I really don't care if you're going to the grocery store or if you're clipping your toenails or if you just had the most satisfying toilet episode of your life. And I definitely don't need an update on you every 5 minutes. It seemed excessive and pointless to me. (Also, I get that this may seem hypocritical because I update facebook pretty often, but I like to pretend that the things I say or more interesting than just the mundane happenings of my life.)

So all this is the history of my social media life. Not including this blog that I just started. I just recently returned from a trip to Colorado where my dad was speaking to me about my blog and how much he loves it and we spoke a lot about social media. He asked questions and gave me tips and finally he asked me about twitter and I explained that I just hadn't yet seen the point. Not interested was my message. Fast forward about one week and my good friend Myke Lewis Olsen sent me a text.

"You ever think about joining twitter? I think you might like it, it's kinda like sending a mass text."

I joined in the next 5 minutes. So what I've learned about myself is that, there needs to be something in it for me. A purpose for me. We'll see how much I like twitter and if I can really get into it or not. But I'm excited to finally have that cute little bird on the home screen of my phone.