Facebook, YouTube, and All That Good Stuff

I was about this old when I had my first experience with social media. (That's me with the dark hair sitting directly in front of that ancient artifact of a computer.) It was probably around 1998, 1999, and I was right about the ripe old age of 10. My parents had just discovered the wonders of AOL dial-up and had created email addresses for themselves. I, on the other hand, had absolutely no idea what this was. All I knew was that I couldn't be on the phone and the computer at the same time. And that waiting for the page to load took so long, I usually moved on to the TV, which housed the wonders of Nickelodeon and Disney Channel.

I wasn't this bored with technology for long. One of my good friends at the time helped me make my first, real email address. I think he was the only person who ever sent me anything, but I loved hearing those infamous words, "You've Got Mail." That seems insanely primitive now, doesn't it? He'd write a few words, a whole sentence at best, and I'd respond with massive levels of enthusiasm.

That first "screen name" evolved from simple emails to instant messaging, the other wonder of my prepubescent life. Then that evolved into chat rooms, which became so shady so fast, it was barely a phase. (Screen names like BaByGiRl657 and Sk8erboi999 were really 40 year old men living with their mother, and that posed a problem for my internet privileges.) Soon, MySpace came on the scene, and anyone who was anyone had one. You used it to keep in touch with friends, meet new people, and show off pictures.

But, like everything these days, MySpace fizzled out. And Facebook took over. I created my facebook when I was a senior in high school. My friends taught me the etiquette, like how you can't add that cute guy you went to the dance with until you had at least 80 friends. I use that facebook now to mainly keep in touch with my friends, who are skattered across the east coast at college. We talk a lot, even if it's just for a moment, thanks to facebook. It's fun to look up old friends, like the ones you went to grade school with, and it was also really helpful with introducing yourself to other college freshmen you hadn't met yet. Now I'm a junior in college, and I still use it. Facebook will most likely meet its demise, probably because something better will eventually come along.

I've been using Twitter for a few months, and even though I was baffled by its initial uselessness, I'm totally addicted now. There's something about expressing your emotions in 140 characters or less. Microblogging is genius. It's great. And it saves me from updating my facebook status every 2.386865 seconds and clogging my friends' news feeds with useless chatter about how that ham sandwich from Subway did not taste right last night.

I just installed Skype on my computer, mainly because one of my best friends is studying abroad in Italy this semester, and we needed a way to stay in touch. As she tells me frequently, I suck at Skype. Personally, I think I suck at remembering that she's 6 hours ahead. But, if I've learned anything during the past 10 years or so, it's that I'll get the hang of it. Eventually.