The Scrabbled: Making Fun of Each Other since '99

I just went back and watched that video. Pretty interesting, but about too geeky by half for me to fully grasp not being a gaming/programming type at all.

But that was also more about the psychology of what about those games appeals to people. I’m more fascinated by the media and cultural zeitgeist that essentially ignores one thing and props up and talks about and endlessly references this other thing which is decidedly less popular and has less actual people using it. I mean other than what I posted and what Matt posted….you’re not seeing many or any articles or news stories about the importance of Farmville (or any of those games) or how big an impact they are having or what famous people’s Farmville scores are or any of that. Yet we’re subjected to the same crap about Twitter which is essentially used by many fewer people as though it is the second coming of the invention of the computer or the telephone. It’s more a statement about the obscene level of narcissism that is permeating our culture than it is anything else. In other words the media narrative essentially boils down to “This is what me and my like minded peers and counterparts use and think is important, therefore it must be and everyone else must be interested in hearing about it.”

Which is actually even more amazing because from what that guy in the video was saying is that there is more money to be made looking at and emulating and working off of the other (Farmville) model rather than the Twitter model. So I guess this is an indication that the only thing that really trumps money in this country is the aforementioned narcissism. So I guess as a media culture we are more selfish than we are greedy.

When my mom asked me about Facebook, I couldn’t give her a good reason why Facebook exists or why it’s not a complete waste of time. She signed up to….play Farmville. That’s it. Connecting with people from high school/growing up and her family isn’t a reason. Just Farmville because one or two people asked her if she played it…she could have cared less that her sister in Florida or her neices and nephews are on there and she can catch up on their lives.

I have a Twitter account but do not use it. Is it still true that 10% of Twitter users account for 90% of the Twitter activity? I just don’t understand the point of Twitter. It seems like a) people post the same thing to Twitter they do to Facebook, Livejournal, or any other site they frequent. That annoys me. b) It is an opportunity to be bombarded with marketing and advertising. I hate that too. c) There is so much information out there that I find it both difficult and overwhelming to get to the “good stuff.”

I am amazed at the amount of narcissism that has made itself apparent in our culture thanks to Facebook and Twitter. People talk about their exact thoughts, locations, experiences, etc. no matter how private. How did people get their narcissistic fix before? People are stupid in how much they open themselves up to strangers as well as their friends. I could go on and on about this, because I don’t think it has a positive place in society. It might be hypocritical of me because I do use a lot of these programs, but I am slowly backing away from it all. I think that’s what happens when you get older and are busier, but we’ll see what happens when the current internet generation grows up.