so for some reason everyone i know uses some form of social media (Facebook, twitter, whatever an instagram is) and i'm just wondering, why is that? i understand staying in contact with all of your friends and making new ones, but why do you have to update statuses and take embarrassing pictures of yourself in an attempt to gain strangers approval?

i guess because i'm a bit of an introvert (love that word. so much better than shut in) that i feel a need to be alone every so often, because there's a point where socializing feels more like a task than fun. but is that viewed as abnormal nowadays?

I mainly use Twitter to follow some video game publishers like Bethesda and Bungie. I also like keeping up with the latest "trends/funnystuff". I only lurk and follow. I never post my personal stuff.

but then why are you a goat?

sorry now im just curious as to the picture and sig.

People as a whole constantly seek the approval of other people. It's part of why we're still alive today. We want to be liked so that we can stay a part of the group, we want to be a part of the group because if we don't we get eaten. Humans aren't the strongest or the fastest or the sneakiest. We live because we are smart and because we breed like rats. We are a pack animal, we need to be part of the group. We don't have much need anymore maybe but the fact that we don't have to be in a group now is partly due to the fact that we feel the need to be part of a group. You follow? It's a survival instinct from a previous era.

Plus everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame and acting the part of a fool gets people's attention and good lord is there a plethora of ways to act the fool and broadcast it out to the world now.

i make an ass of myself every time i open my mouth.

Various reasons

1. They want to stay in touch with family or old friends who live far away

2. They want to stay up to date on both news of what's going on in the world and what's going on with their on group. Social media is a lot more than just looking at your aunt post pictures on facebook.

3. Professional connections

As for posting embarrassing things: It's what humans do sometimes. There is actually some evidence to suggest that doing stupid/embarrassing things strengthens bonds between people. Also what you see as embarrassing another may not.

It all really boils down to humans are quite social creatures by nature. We've evolved to form connections as it helps improve our chances of survival and we love information because it's what has always given us a competitive age. From a purely biological standpoint, Social networks are the equivalent of a high-fat, high-sodium, high-sugar all-you-can-eat buffet (Which, btw, are also things we are all biologically programmed to love)

Face Book, societal junk food. An apt metaphor.

Everyone feels like that sometimes, and it has never been viewed as abnormal.
Only abnormal people would try to tell you otherwise.

And the good thing about facebook is you can contact people and stay informed, and at the same time remain at home alone.

You don't.
The people who do that are probably just lonely or very bored. (or have some awesome news to share)

The 3 points Defron said above are true, most people use social media to stay in contact with family and friends... Not to meet new people or share anything with strangers.

It's not abnormal as far as I'm concerned. I'm the same way, I prefer to spend my time alone and I refuse to get into this whole social media thing. My sister keeps trying to get me to use Facebook, but there's no way in hell I'll ever do that. I like my internet privacy, I'm not going to throw that away by joining in there. I've just spent the entire day, making my internet connection more private and secure with some Mozilla addons I was turned on to. That would be a rather futile effort if I were to join Facebook and allow them, and their business partners, to track me whenever they wanted to.

That's not what I said at all. sodium, sugar, and fat are all things we are programmed to crave. Information and social networks are likewise.

You can overindulge in sodium, sugars, and fats by abusing junk foods, and likewise you can overindulge in information and social networks by abusing facebook and the like.

BTW these forums are also a social network.

Only social media I use is Facebook, deleted my old Myspace back when it went to crap. I mostly just move on to whatever social media is the most used and use it to keep in contact with my friends, family. Beyond that, I don't really go all out and make accounts all over.