Seldom do I walk around campus without the protection of my Bose ear buds (shameless plug). But I am not the only one. Next time you’re in a public place, stop and look at how many people are occupied with their PDA. Whether its texting or tweeting, the need for connection to social media has quietly turned into an obsession. With every new tag, post, and ping, we can only expect this madness to continue.
So where do we draw the line?
In last month’s Wired magazine there was an article that I found both helpful and entertaining. It was a rule book about how to behave in the ever expanding social media conscious world that we now occupy. These rules do make sense (in my opinion at least) and are applicable to anyone who can understand them. I bolded my favorites. Enjoy.
HOW TO BEHAVE: The New Rules for Highly Evolved Humans – A Scientific Approach to 21st Century Predicaments.
Rules
1. If the a call is dropped, the person who initiated the call should call back
2. Don’t Google-Stalk before a first date
3. Texting is OK while in the company of others
4. If you can’t buy it online feel free to bit torrent
5. Never broadcast your relationship status
6. Don’t lie with your facebook photo
7. Friend your boss, but not your boss’s boss. Follow them both on twitter
8. On facebook, ignore your ex
9. Don’t blog or tweet anything that has more than a half a million hits
10. Delete unwanted posts from your facebook wall
11. Meet online friends in the real world (beware: it will be weird)
12. Seek out your coworkers on facebook
13. Leave your WiFi open
14. There’s no such thing as too many friends
15. You can reinvent yourself online
16. Don’t hesitate to haggle on craigslist
17. Never unfollow someone just because they unfollowed you
Multimedia time allocation
Proclamations
1. If you bought it, you can rip it
2. Provide subjects for all emails
3. “Shuffle” is not a cocktail party playlist
4. Don’t follow more people than follow you
5. Don’t type BRB. Just go and come back
6. Never BCC anyone
7. No more than 20 tweets in 24 hours
8. Hunger and fatigue are not interesting status updates
9. The driver controls the iPod
10. Break up privately before you break up in public
11. Never apologize for a lame tweet or blog post
12. Ignore facebook polls
13. Wearing headphones means “do not disturb.”
