Relationships are the most valuable asset in life. They are the currency of emotional well-being. Too often we neglect our personal relationships due to work, stress and the demands of modern life. Social networks serve as the thread that connects us to each other through which we share the sublime to mundane. While digital networks are new, social networks are not. From gatherings around a campfire to congregating at church, social community is the essence of humanity. Communally, we share with each other to cope emotionally, grow intellectually and make sense of life itself.
Digitally, this manifests as tweets about our daily activities, check-ins at businesses, posts about our favorite recipes and pictures that inspire us. We voluntarily emit our unconscious thoughts and desires without notice or prompting so that we leave behind a remembrance of these moments for friends, followers and future admirers of what once was silent soliloquies, but are now personal broadcasts.
We do this for several reasons: fear of feeling non-existent; love of recognition; and the contribution to our immortality. Often our motives are selfish, but within our own self-preservation, either intentionally or accidentally, we invariably foster the continuation and growth of others. But above all, we seek a sense of meaningfulness.
Be it a post about our favorite team or a pin of a new craft project, we seek a meaningful connection with other human beings. Through our jolting of seemingly random minutia into the stratosphere of the internet, we seek intersections with commonalities of interest, purpose and spirit. This is why social networking is not a fad nor whimsy of the juvenile. Social networking is the fabric in which we weave our experience together on a grand scale. Truncated diction does force brevity, but succinctness brings forth authenticity.
My Thoughts 