Facebook, Twitter & Co.

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Some time ago I read an interview with Helen Mirren in a German newspaper. In it she admits that she doesn't use social networks. She doesn't like them and sees no reason for their existence. Twitter? What for? Oh, how I like this woman! It's not that I need assistance from other people - famous or not - for my opinion, but it's nice nevertheless to see that one isn't alone. She thinks that her negative attitude comes from her upbringing. Her mother told her not to begin each sentence in a thank-you letter with the word 'I'. "It's the addressee who's important, not the sender", she was told. Facebook and Twitter, however, are all about 'ME'. "Look at me, how beautiful or funny I am. Read about me, what I do and think." She feels that it's indecent to draw attention to oneself. I don't look at social networks from a moral standpoint, however. I just think it's irrelevant to inform the world about each belch and fart and dead boring to read about other people's olfactory emissions so-to-speak. A tweet, "I'm standing on the platform waiting for my father's train." Good girl, but WHO CARES? Next tweet, "The train is late". INDEED. And so on and so forth. Then the photos! Whoever thinks that a selfie with outstretched tongue or a photo of a group of grimacing people is funny? It isn't! How do I know these things? I do because I'm on facebook and twitter anonymously to spy occasionally on people I know. We used to have foreign language assistants in our house and I like to check what they're up to now that they've gone home again. Although we usually got along with each other when they were here, it‘s 'Out of sight, out of mind' when they've returned home. Why don't I do this openly? Am I a coward? Oh no, I wouldn't say so. I registered first with my real name and was inundated by people from internet sites on which I was active. Not only they appeared on my site but also their friends and friends' friends. I found that frightening. I didn't want to see these people on my site. So I deleted my account as best as I could. Someone told me that one never completely disappears. But at least I'm not bothered any more. Now only a handful of people know about me and that's enough. I'm still looking for a detailed analysis of the phenomenon of social media. Why the urge to expose oneself? I only find profound texts on the dangers of doing so. The worst case scenario is that people kill themselves because they've exposed themselves completely to the wrong people. An article in a German newsmag had the title: 'Internet = Girls' Tomb'. But I want an answer to the WHY. Where was the urge to expose oneself before the internet came into being? Was it hidden in the subconscious and jumped out when it had the chance? Or didn't it exist? Was it created by the internet? All theories are welcome. --- Pic: pixabay