How Myspace has destroyed American youth

Myspace has hit like a bomb amongst kids into one of the trendiest and meaningless hobbies of youth today. What was once a place to advertise music for upcoming independent artists and a way to look for classified jobs has now turned into the most vain and unimportant hangout to show who is the coolest and most popular nobody on the internet. Artists know this that is why so many musicians make pages offering their tour dates, songs and shameless self promotion because they unlike the millions of 18 to 60 year olds on there have accomplished something worth bragging about. Some people have over 300 friends on their profile. Where does someone have time to talk to 300 people. A handful of friends is all that I need and even then I still need a break from being around them after awhile. So what is the appeal of this fake prestige? It is as if being the best polished turd is what is valued today. These are the kings of mediocrity.

Another things that is subpar about myspace is the basic design which is threadbare. You can add a description about yourself which is nice but unless you are a world traveler, famous musician or film director you probably have a normal, boring uneventful life. The other fill in the blanks are slots where you can put your favorite television shows, musicians, books and hobbies. They should instead put what books the user has written, music the user has composed and so forth to weed out the people who haven’t accomplished anything.

Part of the joy of getting to know someone is the mystery of what this person has to offer. Myspace kills this anticipation by having people post their extensive bios as if they were on the same accomplished level of that of Richard Dawkins and Federico Fellini. I don’t care about someone’s political stance, 50 Things You Didn’t Know About Me Lists and what they snacked on at 3:04 p.m. and now feel guilty about. This isn’t the Diary of Anne Frank, memoirs from a soldier at war or even the journal from a successful businessman about the ins and outs of climbing the ladder to the American dream. These are things that people should be ashamed about – that of being boring and mediocre that now myspace and society celebrate whoever is the most useless and commonplace as admirable qualities. Look at the pictures people post – 98 percent of them are college students holding their favorite mixed drinks or beer showing them making funny faces living the dream of youth. As if I’m jealous.

The only thing aside of finding a part time job in the job listings and seeing tour dates from your favorite artists is finding old friends from high school. You can reconnect with old friends but let’s be honest if you haven’t kept in touch with these people maybe you weren’t a good friend to begin with. I have people from when I was in UNCG trying to add me. If I wasn’t friends with them in real life why the hell would I want to be friends with them in cyberspace? You even have crappy musicians and amateur web cam girls trying to add you as a friend. Sorry but if I wanted to find a high class girl such as these I would go to a bar at 1 a.m. and put on some Cary Grant charm.