Staying Connected

Staying Connected

Do you remember the Stereo MCs? A one hit wonder band that hit it big with the tune, Connected back in something like 91. I remember partying to it in New Paltz. I have the CD.

The song sings about making sure you are connected. My question is are we to connected? I’m on Facebook, Linkedin.com, Twitter and other social media sites. Please don’t get me wrong I love them all.

When Facebook first started to accept the general public, I resisted for a while. Then I got an email saying your friends ….. want you to join. They paired them together. Call it the odd couple. One is a Chabad rabbi. The other is a former co-worker, a bleached blonde from Fla. Just picture it. Long beard, pais, white shirt, Florida beach girl.

I joined. How could I resist? Facebook has helped me reacquaint myself with friends from Tau Epsilon Phi, P.S. 209, P.S. 36, and old jobs.

Several ex-girlfriends sent me messages on Linkedin.com and Facebook. One said, “hi, I hope you don’t mind getting a request from me”. I really didn’t care. Many girls I dated are friends with me on all the social media sites. One introduced me to a friend of hers. It didn’t work. But she tried.

But are we to connected? I so think so. When I first joined Facebook and Twitter, I put up messages saying, “can’t you write something more interesting than I’m doing laundry or sipping a diet Coke”? Within minutes over hundred people wrote back to me saying guess what? I’m doing laundry and sipping a diet Coke. Like I really care.

Fall 2010-early winter, the cute girl I dated was Twitter obsessed. Every date we were on, she’d be like I’m sorry, I have to tweet this. I just saw something come in about this and that and like whatever. I gotta Tweet it. We even went to a tweet party in a bar. We all sat there ate some food, donated a gift or two for a needy child so they could have a better holiday season. People got up and talked about tweeting. Of course they multi-tasked. They tweeted while they were speaking.

Were we better off before these applications? No. They are very valuable and have brought many people together. They’ve rekindled old friendships and created new ones. But it can be overwhelming. Do we really need to check our email and all the social medias sites 24/7?

Last night, I shut my computer off. Let lots of music play and finished a book. After posting this, I am going to do more reading.

Oh as for the Stereo MCs, they’ve been playing on iTunes and have been inspirational while I penned this.
Off to read a book.