YET ANOTHER STUDY finds Facebook may be bad for your mental health. Researchers reported about a third of Facebook users studied experienced feelings of negative self-worth after spending time on The Social Network.
While I myself don’t plunge into the depths of despair every time I see some of you announcing engagements or celebrating birthdays (indeed, I refuse to list my own date of birth on my profile), I will admit that there are times when I see what all my friends are up to, and I can’t help but feel a little… inadequate.
I suppose this is one of the big trade-offs we get in our increasingly compartmentalized society, as we may feel compelled to over-share the minute and mundane details of our existence in an effort to feel “more connected”. I try my best to minimize this for my part, but I am still curious to what many of you have going on. And while often there is great news – pregnancies, births, weddings, the finding of lost dogs – there is sometimes “good news that makes me feel bad”, particularly in the relationship arena.
One of my closest friends recently quit Facebook for this reason, and I certainly can’t blame this person for making that decision. “It’s so depressing,” my friend told me, “with all the negativity and complaining and politics, and everyone talking about their kids and husbands and wives and so on.”
I responded that while I was terribly disappointed in my friend’s decision to quit FB, I would do it myself for the same reasons – were it not for the fact that given my work schedule, Facebook is literally the only human interaction I have most days outside of my office.
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“Content is king,” Bill Gates famously quipped in 1996. The creators of South Park are proving that true once again.
Iran says it sent a monkey into orbit today, proving they have finally caught up with the 1950s-era Soviet space program. (There is, so far, no evidence that Iran actually sent anything in to space.)
WATCH THIS
I had no idea the presidential inauguration last week was so interesting.
NUMBER OF THE DAY
7
Years spent in a coma by Ariel Sharon, the former prime minister of Israel; doctors say they may have detected new brain activity in the 84-year-old, who has been on life support since a stroke in 2006.TODAY'S NOT REALLY OBSCURE MOMENT IN HISTORY
On January 28, 2003, George W. Bush gives what I believe to have been the finest presidential address in the history of the United States of America.
MUSIC MONDAY
I am very fond of Mannheim Steamroller's Fresh Aire IV, also known as the "Winter Album". This cut, "G Major Toccata", isn't very wintry; in fact, it makes me think of a baseball park organist dramatically reenacting a spectacular home run display.
