Modern Day Stalking

In my wonderful august adventure in America (!), I had  the pleasure to meet the awesome girl that is Marissa Langman! She's a copywriter and she's just amazing! We bonded over the sexyness of Joseph Gordon Levitt, photobooths, sangria, music and fake tatoos! She showed me the best of San Francisco and it was memorable. 

So Marissa is a big fan of social networking sites- and so am i! Recently she published an article sharing her thoughts on modern day stalking. You can read the full article

Go ahead and read this : http://www.thebolditalic.com/articles/4364-does-googling-your-friends-make-me-a-stalker

Here are some of my fav quote: 

"Would we have this same urge to discover such mundane information about strangers and acquaintances if it wasn’t so readily available? I’d like to think I wouldn’t be lurking in alleys or peering through windows to get this type of information – I hope, I really do hope."

I certainly hope not- that would be s stweird. I do think though, that part of it has to do with people oversharing. It's just there for us to see. I personally think one of the characteristics of the teach-savy generation is oversharing and therefore, over-receiving. This simply makes us addicted to information, and when it's a slow day on facebook we'll have to find it elsewhere. Part of it has to do with the fact that in past decades people were more private too. But, in the prior to facebook era, didnt we talk about people too??We didnt lurk in alleys, but wouldnt we jump with excitement when our friend heard from another friend who heard from another friend that our crush was at the cinema?!

The truth of the matter is, we are shaped nowadays to store useless information. Before facebook, it was tabloids. Millions of magazines have been sold because a celebrity had a baby or a nervous break down. The internet has allowed- in a way- all of us to feel like celebrities. We share private stories or funny ones with our facebook community with is compiled by people we either speak to or dont- and thats fine, because we are knowingly do it. What happens next?Oh the sharers become stalkers. I dont think anyone who shares stuff on facebook, isnt interested in seing what other people share too. 

Lets just consider for a second how people interact nowadays - it's mostly online. Where people used to meet at bars or on the street, this has moved to the virtual hang outs now : facebook messaging, twitter, even tinder. One would say, people meet traditionally still, yes they do, and then they look each other up on facebook. Which bring me to my next quote from Marissa : 

"1. Does he have a girlfriend? 

2. What are his friends like? 

3. What does his ex look like?"

We go in search of this sort of information as soon as possible. Why? Simply because we want to save ourselves the trouble and the agony of wondering. If all the single ladies can find this stuff out with the occassional awkward conversation and the heart race that comes with it, why not? And this is a result of the pace of modern life. Everybody is in a hurry to meet standards and goals set by society: must get a good job, must find good boy, must get married. In the end though, we simple cant do it all and be happy and on top of it.

And remember, sharing is caring (!)