Find me?

Yeah, it's all daylilies all the time in the world of pointless photography. Or at least it has been the past three days or so.

Anyway.

Today, boys and girls, we're going to talk about social networking. It'll be a brief talk, because I don't do it.

That's right. I'm not on Facebook or Twitter or Myspace or anything like that. I have two blogs that I write under a (pretty transparent, true) pseudonym, and other than an occasional appearance on a gaming site (same pseudonym, so if you think that you've seen me you probably have) and even rarer appearances on a couple of bulletin boards (same name again, yes. I'm nothing if not predictable) they are the extent of my internet presence.

I kind of like it that way, even if sometimes I feel like I'm the weird hippy chick standing over in the field who can't see why everyone else has left the commune and gone back to the city.

Um. That was a strange analogy.

I will admit, though, that not owning my own computer may be colouring my perspective a bit about the whole social networking thing. Maybe if I had the all-hours access to the net that some of you have I'd want to make myself more known to the world at large, too.

And as to why I don't own a computer... well, let me just say that I'm not a Luddite or anything like that. In fact, I did own a laptop back in the 90s. Just never bothered getting another one, that's all. I don't own a computer now just because I don't. I figure that I have enough access to the internet at work and at my father's place, so I don't really need it at home too. It's a cost-saver as well, you know. No monthly bills, no regular equipment replacement. Seems reasonably logical to me.

Now, that's not to say that I haven't been involved in a small social network in the past. Back before IM I did my share of chat room silliness (and silliness it definitely was), and there was a time when I was a regular on Messenger. I have a Skype account that I never use (although it sounds like that's probably going to change in the near future, and I think that it'll probably involve starting a new account anyway) and I briefly -- extremely briefly -- had a Facebook account just to see what all the fuss was about.

Obviously, I wasn't bowled over. Equally obviously from the list in the above paragraph, any social networking that I've ever done has been on a very limited, very personal basis. Kind of like my life, really.

You see, I just don't get the idea of letting everyone in the world know what I'm up to. I don't get why people do it, and I don't get why other people care. I do understand the whole idea of connecting with old friends or family or whatever that you might not have connected with otherwise, but to my mind if I wanted to connect with people like that I'd find a way to do it that wasn't so much like broadcasting to the entire planet.

Get the feeling that I'm a bit of a private person? Well, you're wrong. I'm a lot of a private person.

Now, maybe I'm just being a five-year-old about all of this. It's possible. Maybe if I stopped pouting and started posting things to an imaginary wall or tweeting about what I was planning to have for dinner on a regular basis I'd feel differently. I can't imagine I would, but then I was the one who was never going to blog or text either.

And we all know how that went.

Well, a select few of you do anyway...

And for anyone wondering why someone with this attitude even has a blog, the truth is that the whole thing started on a whim back in 2003 (that'd be with the old blog, I mean). Why it's still going is, frankly, beyond me. But you have to admit that blogging in this way is different from social networking anyway. This is me largely talking to myself. Other people read it and are welcome to comment, sure, but it's not like I put this out there expecting that it's going to be read. If I wanted that I'd be doing actual advertising, which I'm definitely not.

So, conclusion? Am I really missing anything by staying in the vacuum, do you think? I suppose you could friend me and try to convince me otherwise, right?

Oh wait. No, you can't.

I guess you'll just have to write me a note or something, then.






Send it Pony Express.