In the Netherlands 400 years ago, tulips had just arrived. These exotic flowers started a craze that many call ridiculous. One thing led to another, and people started to offer huge amounts of money for a single tulip bulb -- amounts equal to a wealthy merchant's annual income, or even the value of a house. What was more extreme was that people who had tulips refused to sell them for a small fortune. After a while, people realized that tulips weren't worth it. But what made them drop all logic and reason and give in to that craze? That is the question I've been pondering.
In the 21st century, people obsess over designer labels and materialistic objects. This is one bubble that has yet to burst. Walking up and down the avenues of New York City, stores sell exquisite Gucci bags and high-end clothes from Ralph Lauren. Even in high school, as often as possible, people walk around in designer denim and tote their books in a designer bag. It seems that those who can't afford it want it, and those who can afford it have it.
A faculty member at my school once told me that she was afraid to go into Intermix, a store that depends on designer exclusives, because of the glares she would get, even though she would have loved to buy everything in the store. She said this jokingly, of course, but that didn't get across to me as a joke. Even things like designer shoes with a red stripe on the bottoms will sell for a hundred dollars more, when it probably costs just a couple of cents more to manufacture. Why can't people settle for the same exact object without a small label? I truly don't think it's because of the better quality, which may or may not even exist. I do think it's partly because people want to be recognized as a person with money, and because people want to feel like they fit in to everything and everyone around them.
Did you click on the links of Gucci, Ralph Lauren, and Intermix above? If so, for what purpose? Though you might not know it, you might just be a part of that bubble.
Seven or eight years ago, no one knew what a Facebook was. No one spent hours at home checking their newsfeed or making thousands of 'friends.' No one knew what a 'hashtag' was; we just called it the pound key. No one could tell you the definition of a 'tweet.' As my 2003 Microsoft Word will tell you by underlining those words in red, and by defining a 'tweet' as a chirp, it has stayed in that oh-so-precious time, ostensibly unrecognizable to us now, where everyone spoke face to face and built meaningful, genuine relationships with one another.
Though I myself was only seven or eight, I remember this time clearly. I would go over to someone's house for a play date, or call them on my home phone if I wanted to talk. But now, the social media bubble had arrived, along with rapid improvements in technology. Despite social media being something that connects us, that seems to be the one thing it is doing least. Social media sites give us a place where we can weaken real relationships into artificial ones. Sure, these websites allow us to reach more people than we ever thought we could, but whenever you add one more 'friend' on Facebook, the relationships you had between your other 'friends' deteriorate. In fact, I don't even know if the 'social' in 'social media' fits rightfully so into the connotation of the phrase.
If this phenomenon is not an economic bubble, it is a social bubble. Nominally, people have more relationships than in the real world. However, these relationships consist of no real value. I would call this 'relationship inflation.' These thinning relationships at the heart of this social media bubble are illusions of real relationships. Connections between people are merely marked with bits of random information here and there, and not with real substance.
Some may say that this analysis of the nomenclature of social media is too serious. That may be so, but I do think that the sheer purpose of the Internet, and of social media websites, is to essentially encourage new methods of thinking and communicating through strengthened, more authentic relationships. But now they are lending to the lethargic attitude of people in the world who avoid confrontation and who avoid the real fulfillment of action.
Why do you think these bubbles exist?
I agree with your assessment of how relationships can become "inflated", as you said, but I think that it's due to the ABUSE of social media, not their mere presence.
I find that as a high school student it's difficult to see past the applications that facebook has in your own life, but once you get to college you and beyond you'll find that it allows you to stay in touch with old friends as well as make sharing the new memories you're making in a revolutionary way.
I am also an introvert. I keep up with a handful of people with e-mail and phone calls.
I use LinkedIn. It is useful and does not pose too much security risk. But that is the only social network that I am on. If somebody searches on my name they might hit my LinkedIn page, otherwise they will hit my articles, mostly on computer security.Otherwise nothing. No information to use to launch a social engineering spearphish attack.
I have cautioned my kids on the relevant hazards and attack techniques. They are not big social networking users.
For those of you that disagree, I think you cannot deny that if there ins't some sort of other real world interaction with those connections and "friends" in the social media world, than you are indeed weakening your true relationships if it becomes simply about amassing as many people as possible. I think that painfully apparent, to older folks, but kids? Not so much.
Again, well done, and keep thinking through things this way and making sense of the world for yourself and dare to think different and respect your thoughts, and your work and don't be afraid to fail, and learn from that. It all adds up over time, and all of life is about doing things better and better with time.
Also, social media allow you to build networks of friends with common, but obscure interests. I write minimalist music - I doubt there are 3 people in my zip code who even know what that is - but I have 50 or 60 friends world-wide who are as passionate as I am about the same subject. We can communicate and collaborate where before we would not have anyone who shared our interests.
Nope - social media is a big help in forming new partnerships and communities.
Of course, a majority of people and adults use Facebook strictly for connecting with others. But, for kids who use Facebook for popularity, many of their relationships on Facebook are not authentic, at least to what I've seen.
In the internet age, brevity is the key. Treat your writing like a laser-guided missile rather than a cluster bomb. Try and get straight to the point without losing your creativity - it is a skill you will need for this short attention span era.
I do not agree with some of what you write, but I give you kudos for yearning for something deeper and better. Good luck.
What amazes me is that folks like the above posters are okay with their personal information being monetized. It's all about data mining, get a clue.