Sunday 27 April 2014

The Friendliest Sites On The Web

As you may well imagine, someone as socially inept as myself appreciates kindness wherever it exists. It is something I can't afford to take for granted. I spend a significant amount of time online, and I have noticed that three sites I visit regularly seem to be the friendliest of the bunch. I don't even want to add up all of the sites I belong to/visit. Sounds too pathetic. So I have listed my top three in ascending order with #1 being the most consistently friendly. And because this blog would not be the same without some form of negativity, I will be listing not only the pros but also the cons of my involvement with each site.

#3 TWITTER 
Pros This site is great because I can come and go as I please. I do not have a regular group of people I interact with; I just post my crap and go on my way. Positive reinforcement comes in the form of favorites and retweets, which is just remote enough to ensure that no one gets pissed off or hurt in the exchange. Great when I am having a bad day but I need some sort of distraction.
Cons Regardless of what I post, no one ever checks to see that I am okay. Not that I am normally an attention whore, but it's nice to be noticed every once in a while. Twitter does not offer me this. I have 400+ followers, and I know nothing about any of them beyond what their brief bio suggests.

#2 FACEBOOK
Pros Unlike Twitter, I do have people on this site that I interact with regularly, even if it is just to "poke" one another. And I will never forget one late night I was in a bad place mentally and visited Facebook looking for some reassurance/support. I posted a status update asking someone, anyone to please pay me a compliment. Anything. I got over 10 compliments in all, even though it was not exactly a peak time online. They may have saved my life that night. That's definitely nothing to sneeze at.
Cons Most of the people I am friends with on Facebook are former classmates, which would suggest that they are also pushing 40. It's hard not to compare my life to theirs and add up the ways in which I failed to achieve my goal of happy wife and mommy - and they reached it somehow. Can be very disheartening.

#1 YOUTUBE
Pros I have had my YouTube channel for four years now, and I currently have over 400 subscribers. But unlike Twitter, I get to interact with some of them. The core group that interact with me represent some of the clearest examples of kindness and caring that exist in my life. In return, I try to provide them with the types of videos they want to see on my channel. It's an exchange that works for both parties.
Cons The other side of the metaphorical coin is that YouTube has introduced me to some of the coldest people I have ever met. The cruelty can be overwhelming in some instances. But it is a price I am willing to pay for that kindness and caring I crave so much.

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