On Social Networking and Feeling Sorry For Yourself

Fact. Social networking has ruined feeling sorry for yourself.

Time was that you could feel a bit sorry for yourself, get over it,  move on. Now however it seems that people feel compelled to post such things on the various social networking sites of their choice.

So here's how it works.

1. Someone feels dissatisfied with life, having genuine reasons to be upset, and merely looking for a venue to vent.
2. Said someone posts it on facebook, looking as mentioned to vent, or maybe for a little sympathy. That's ok, we all want to feel loved.
3. Someone else notices this, and does the same. Wonderment! A piece of light therapy is born. Never let it be said that I believe holding up your emotions is a good idea. But here is where it gets tricky.
4. People start doing this lots. They start posting statuses (No, stati is pretentious hypercorrection) about every little gripe and moan.
5. Maybe to begin with it feels cathartic, but now it has become normal. The effect is nominal and the meaning has diminished.
6. People begin to notice this, and make fun of the people created in step 4, re-creating a culture in which it is deemed wrong to express one's self.
7. The people who now have genuine reasons to feel upset feel self conscious and feel even worse because they feel their thoughts and feelings are weak and unworthy.

 Now, this is all purely hypothetical, and has no research or study to back it up that I know of, but I can take a guess at the next stage:

     8.  These people, needing an outlet, and perhaps nursing a mild inferiority complex, create personal blogs and share them only with close friends and perfect strangers.