Entering MySpace (but only from a distance)
August 24th, 2006
I've been casting about the web recently, trying to dig up memories from my high school past. I came across a couple of people I knew in high school who have set up pages on MySpace. My brother David has a site there too, but I've never really gone and spent time there. So I figured, what the heck, I might as well set up a profile on MySpace and point people to my "real" blog at ScottCorner. That's exactly what I did. And I can say without any doubt now that MySpace has got to be one of the most ill-conceived community sites I've ever dealt with (which really says something, because it's one of the most popular; I'll get to that later).
What really bothers me is all the clutter: ads everywhere, huge ones, most of them featuring young, scantily-clad females attempting to woo me to some dating service; the pictures seem to indicate that you can pretty much go out with that very girl if you only Click Here! Hmmm... well since my profile indicates that I'm married with kids, obviously there isn't a lot of "ad targeting" going on here. Some of the ads are kind of uh, inappropriate too. Just the thing I'd like to see while I'm trying to connect with friends on my lunch break.
The navigation on MySpace is very cluttered. It took about five minutes to figure out how the heck to post a photo of myself. Also, there's no direct link between your site and the administration of your site, so you can't edit you content unless you log in, but then you can't see what the content is supposed to look like. And when it is posted, it looks like someone with very bad HTML skills tried to hand-type the page, cobbling the pieces together into a wide-screen nightmare of blaring background colors, teenybopper ads, and links, links, links and more links.
So why is MySpace as popular as it is? Well, think about who thrives there. People who like clutter. People who like to fantasize about gorgeous girls that would never give them the time of day in real life. People who bask in the glaring bombardment of commercialism that is the signal achievement of our age. Yes, I'm talking teenagers. Actually unattached people under the age of 30 (since a lot of the twenty-somethings on the site seem to be orbiting around age 16 in terms of their ability to express themselves).
Am I being critical of people who use MySpace? Not really, 'cause I have a profile there! I am being critical of the company's ability to provide a decent place to surf the sea of online friends without being drown in advertisements and cramped by poor space planning.
I'm glad to connect with some people who otherwise don't post online, but is it worth the headache? I don't know yet. All I know is, right now I'd rather be here in my cozy, clean, comfortable blog than anywhere in the asteriod-strewn galaxy of MySpace.
9 Comments Add your own
1. Stephanie | August 24th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
You pretty much summed up my space. I totally know what you mean. I hate all the ads, the inappropriate links, etc. (I have also just recently created a profile there.) I get weird friend requests. From country singers, to realtors, to people scoping for `a good time`. (ate least there have only been a few, and that was mostly when I first created it.)
I decided to create a profile for a lot of the same reasons...to find and connect with people I know and knew. I haven`t had much success.
Well, to make a long comment longer...one thing I HAVE learned, is some neat tricks of adding pictures...for creating slideshows, etc. You commented at our blog that you liked the slideshow, it was while searching for ideas (from other myspace users) that I found a free slideshow site.
http://www.picturetrail.com/photoFlick/samples/pflicks.shtml
Also, if you want to change a photo so that you can add it to your `myspace` (in a place other then the photo section) you can change pictures to html at www.photobucket.com
Ok, so now I am going to have to search out your `myspace` profile...
Take care,
Stephanie
2. Jared | August 25th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
on your myspace it says you are an Atheist.
Is that to say you are no longer a Mormon?
3. James | August 25th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
Jared, correct you are. My senior year at BYU (a Mormon school!) I "de-converted" from Mormonism thanks to my overly inquisitive mind and a lot of soul-searching about what I believed and why. My wife and all my extended family are still active in their churches. You can imagine there were/are some hard feelings within the family about it, but in the intervening years we`ve reached a sort of balance in our various beliefs.
Since my disaffection with the LDS faith I have found many answers to life`s questions in humanist thought and the original teachings of the Buddha (although I couldn`t call myself a Buddhist either).
This probably deserves a lengthy blog entry in itself! Spirituality and the human yearning for religion are fascinating topics that I think are very useful in understanding our history and current conditions as a society.
4. jared | August 25th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
thank you for your thorough response, and I have to say I very much enjoy your blog posts and the mental faculties that you bring to bear on various subject matter.
5. James | August 25th, 2006 at 7:24 pm
Thanks for the photo advice Stephanie. The slideshow site is cool! Yes, I`m hoping for improved results from MySpace. So far no oddballs asking for my home address!
6. onelegged jared | September 5th, 2006 at 11:33 pm
Atheist? Have you read Martin Buber`s "I and Thou"? What do you think of his view on the subject of God?
7. James | September 6th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
Jared, I`ll have to check out Buber`s work. I`ve not read any of his books, but I did just read about him on wikipedia. I`ll let you know what I think.
8. onelegged jared | September 7th, 2006 at 1:21 am
Get Walter Kaufman`s translation (or dive into the German original if you are able) it`s very solid and he has an unparalleled pedigree in my view.
Just quickly though, may I ask why your disenchantment with an organized religion disenchanted you with the idea of an existing God? Were the two that conflated in your mind? For my part, I have often thought that as my attachment with an organized religion waxed, my attachment to God waned - like the one substituted for the other in the same way that language substitutes for an idea - like the short-cut served as a diversion from the ultimate goal: a relationship with God. But in my essence, my core, I`ve always felt as if there was a power out there that was greater than me, that was creative, revelatory, reflective, and redemptive in nature (and here, i suppose one regresses into a definitional discussion of what "God" is.... but it`s altogether necessary if we are to discuss the propriety of Atheism, or a belief that "God" does not exist).
My thinking in a poorly descriptive nutshell: God is the body of all thought, idea, *consciousness*. I view God (consciousness) as external, something that our brains tap into (think: brain as radio tower). I have had occasion to think of God as the polar opposite of flesh, Earth, matter. But see the both as existing always.
I am more than interested to hear your views on this and anything else related to the subject as my own thinking is anything but firm and finalized.
9. onelegged jared | September 7th, 2006 at 1:22 am
PS: who is this other "Jared", and how did he come by such a cool moniker??
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