I got a few phone calls from friends the other day, and I was absolutely stunned to hear at how long I hadn't actually spoken to them. They told me two months, I felt like it was two days. Maybe it was because I was busy? Or maybe it was because I really didn't care to check up on them? I'm pretty sure it wasn't the latter, but for whatever reason, when I go without talking to good friends for a long period of time, I usually give them a call. Why didn't I do it this time around?

I'm pretty sure I know why...

Myspace, facebook, and Twitter. Already, I receive a huge influx of information from those friends through their pages. I myself have a myspace and facebook account, but am too afraid to log onto twitter - if only for the implied narcissism at stake, and my apprehension from stating tweets in the past tense (twat anyone?).

Some of these friends have their twitter accounts synched with their facebook pages, so in essence, I recieve a double dose of what their days entailed, and how they're feeling...usually every hour on the hour. When I feel the need to talk to someone, it's usually because I want to know how they're doing. There is a certain mystery and anxiety around knowing how your friends are doing. Depending on how strong the bond you have with them is, you may want to give your friend a call once a month, once every two weeks, or once every week. But even so, the question I found myself asking was: 'is the integrity of my individual relationships compromised when people disclose too much information about themselves on social networking websites?' Invariably, I came to a 'yes' answer myself, but these two friends were isolated cases.

Now I'm not saying that these web sites are 'bad' by any means. All of them serve very practical purposes, and two of them streamline text-based email in very easy-to-understand and managable ways. When I signed up for myspace, it was to make sure I stayed connected with my friends and families. When I signed up for facebook, it was because I had an ex on there that I wanted to piss off by opting for the 'relationship' selection...though I later used it for the same reason as myspace. But now all of these sites offer status updates, something that has killed my need to know how they're doing...now, I already do.

Now, I'm sure there is some kind of compromise that can be made, and it probably involves NOT updating these sites as often as you breathe. But I'm more interested in the questions that these sites are starting to raise. I can't be the only one who has noticed the effect these services are having on my relationships, and I'm starting to wonder if the integrity of many personal relationships are being compromised by the sheer amount of information we're able to attain just a mouse click away.

Agreed? Y/N?

Tags: Myspace Facebook Twitter Awesome Not That Awesome Fun Philisophical