Friday 20 September 2013

Liars, Parasites and "users"

With the advent of the various Social Media sites and their portability via tablet and smartphone 'apps', it has never been easier to 'meet' new people and interact with them pretty much any time, anywhere.

This - in concept - is great. You can 'meet' and interact with new people, the likes of which you might never encounter in real life, exchange views, thoughts, ideas, laugh and argue together and - in some rare cases - ultimately meet in the flesh and become firm friends. However, like all things in life, for every good thing/experience, there seems to be (in my experience at least) an equal and opposite 'baddie'.

Unfortunately, aside from the Cyber Trolls that everyone must by now be aware of, there appear to be a strata of social media participants who are little better than parasites (or 'users') of the less-suspecting, good hearted and well-intentioned site user.

In this I refer to the people who either :

  • misrepresent themselves - the Liars - (projecting themselves to be something that they are not in order to attract attention)
  • 'latch on' to others - the Parasites - to gather as much information about that person or their expertise for their own satisfaction and then 'drop' the 'innocent' party like a stone once they are sated   
  • manipulate others - the Users - for their own ends or gratification
Of course, there are Social Media users who have elements/combinations of all three of the broad categories I list here (and likely others that I have not): none of which is appealing or productive to any but the perpetrator.

The net effect of the Trolls, the Liars, the Parasites et all is an extremely negative experience for the innocent, well -intentioned Social Media user when such sites are conceived/designed to be exactly the opposite. The plus side, however, is that - as the actual writing of this blog entry attests - the well-intentioned user is now becoming 'wise' to the predatory nature of others and is more guarded - and perhaps better armed? - and able to deal with such 'enemies'.



So if you are a Social Media user reading this via a profile link, heed my words.... if you are not here with the best of intentions, we are on to you. 

Thursday 19 September 2013

Frustration

I recently had the chance to stop for a few days, catch my breath and take stock of the current events in and status  of my life.

It occurred to me that we humans are creatures of infinite requirement and avarice: we set ourselves goals and objectives and - upon achievement - want more or bigger or better.

I am fortunate to be relatively comfortable - financially and personally - but still I find myself frustrated with what I possess and have achieved thus far in my life: you will recall (from a recent previous post) that I had started to experience the desire to slow down and start to enjoy my achievements and status: this feeling/desire lasted only as long as it took me to exhaust the content of my TiVo recordings - then I started drumming my fingers and was itching for something to do.

I have been lucky enough to have known several wonderful women in my life - some I have been romantically involved with, others I have met through my various work and leisure activities (e.g. I was a competent polo player and am a reasonable glamour photographer): each time I have dallied with (or photographed) my female 'objective' (apologies if that term appears offensive but I am unable to think of a less objectionable term), my quest for a superior companion or model begins.

This is indeed shallow of me and I am not proud of this aspect of my nature but it does illustrate, I think, the nature of we humans to always want more.



..... or is it just me? Your opinions, dear reader, are always welcome