I would now like to discuss social networking websites,
such as Facebook and MySpace, and focus on the concepts of rituals and stereotypes
in my analysis. Social networking websites have become such a
tremendous part of people’s lives in popular culture today that it seems as if participating
in these websites has become somewhat of a ritual for many people. Social networking websites have become a
daily occurrence in many people’s lives.
With the growing number of people using the Internet as a means of
communicating with each other the use of these websites has increased dramatically.
Many people have taken these websites to an almost
ritualistic stage. There are so many participants
in these websites that feel compelled to post to them daily as if it is
something that they need to do for the day, just like they need to go to work
or take a shower; they now feel they need to post updates to their social networking
profile every day as well. People might
post anything to their profiles and that of their “friends” such as they went
out to eat at a particular restaurant or that they are going to be staying at
home that evening to be with their significant other. So many people now feel as if they have to
update their social networking profile daily, because that is what they have
become accustomed to doing. It may have
started out as something they occasionally did, but they now have a specific
time reserved to ensure they update their profile even if they have nothing
significant to say to anyone. I think
one of the reasons I do not really check my Facebook page any longer is because
I look at what people are posting and it seems as if many people are posting the
most trivial things in their lives on there and I don’t care enough to read
it.
I feel the stereotype concept also fits with social
networking websites because it seems as if the “cool” people are the ones that
are constantly posting to these websites.
By that I mean there are people on Facebook that have hundreds of “friends”
and they are always updating their profile.
These websites have grown especially popular with high school students
and there are the “cool” kids with hundreds of friends that are always
communicating via these websites and there is the stereotype of the “uncool”
kids that aren’t. Unfortunately, there
are a lot of younger kids using these websites to stereotype others. There are too many instances of
cyber-bullying and most of it stems from irresponsible use of social networking
websites.
When applying the concept of rituals and stereotypes to
social networking websites, I can see why so many people choose to participate
in them. People generally tend to join activities
that the majority of people are doing and then when people keep doing that
particular activity on a regular basis it becomes a ritual. Participating in social networking websites
may have started with a stereotype as in “this is what everyone is doing” and from
that more and more people started their own profile. Once they set up their profile and
participation began, it may have become a ritual to them. For instance, you come home from work and
have some free time so you login to your profile to see if you have any
comments and check out other profiles to see what people have been doing. For many people it soon it becomes something
you feel the need to check on every day because you might miss something
important, although, I highly doubt it.
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