I enjoy blogging, even though I don’t do it with any regularity. For the most part I use this blog to share items of interest more than to expound on Life and Jim! Today, however, a couple of practices came to mind that I felt I need to address.
1) People who insist upon claiming their spot as the first respondent of any blog/news/video post. You see it all the time on YouTube and on any number of blogs and news sites that I frequent. The inevitable “FIRST!!” someone proudly proclaims when they think they’ve made the first comment to whatever they’ve just finished reading. I find that, more often than not, they make that entry to wave their hands in the air and plant a metaphorical flag on it instead of contributing to what they’re following.
My point is this: Who Cares? First counts when, say, you’re running a race, or you’re a paramedic. To claim you’re the first to comment is a rather shallow claim and means, in all honesty, absolutely nothing. This behavior is most often seen originating from tweens and immature young adults.
2) When you read somebody’s profile on just about any social networking site there is usually a section called “Music”. In that section you can outline some of the types of music and artist you enjoy (or don’t enjoy), or what fills up your iPod. The entries I despise are like this: “I LOVE music!!!!!”. Why do I despise that entry? Because, quite simply, name me someone, anyone, who doesn’t love music? Every human being alive has a song they love, an artist they loyally follow, a song they hate, an artist they can’t stand, a genre of music they can’t get enough of, and a music type that they will run away from if it comes on the air. Virtually everyone I know has at least one of the following: a) A multi-gig iPod (or other portable music player), b) an extensive collection of CDs, or 3) a hard drive full of mp3s. (I can add to that, personally, by stating I still own over 500 albums and over 300 forty-fives, but that’s not what’s important right now.)
My point is this: Everyone loves music and everyone listens to music. Music is portable now, which increases the listening time (and, at the same time, shortening the attention span) of most individuals. To say you love Music is akin to saying “I need oxygen”. Instead of declaring your love of music it will suffice to mention that you’ve been heartbroken since Wham! broke up and that music has sucked complete ass since Kurt Cobain offed himself.
