Easy.

So I came to this conclusion this morning.  It may have been in the shower, or perhaps while I was riding into work.  I'm not really sure which.  But I've noticed that I have a lot of confusing frustration around social networks and such these days.  Facebook is frustrating to me.  Google+ is... slightly less frustrating because there's simply less there.  Tumblr blogs, Twitter, OkCupid (there I said it!  Hah!), all these things are just... ringing hollow for me.

I started thinking about people I admire; or about how I wanted my life to be.  And I realized that in both cases, most of the above networks didn't figure prominently in the picture.  If anything, they became primarily an outlet for the dissemination of my own information, or a way to schedule something with friends.

I thought about it a bit, and asked myself this question: Ideally, would you rather check out what your friends are doing on Facebook, or go hang out with them once a week?  Would you rather write a letter of substance to your distant cousins and friends every so often, or see their name occasionally with a contextless message about their latest activity?

I kept trying to figure out how I could turn these networks - for myself - into a more efficient vehicle for interacting with people in meaningful ways, rather than this constant stream of small, generally unimportant information.  I want to take each of my friends and sit and have a conversation with them, learn what they're up to, and both be better for it.  Maybe decide to get lunch, or go see a movie, or play a game together some night.  I can't really see how that would work.  Seems like it'd be more direct to just give someone a call.

As I was saying, if I envision how I want my life to be, all these networks just don't really figure into the equation.  I think that's the thing about social networks - for the most part, they're by no means a substitute for doing things in life with people.  There's a vast difference between enjoying something with your friends and family and talking with them about what they did on their own, or with someone else.

The problem is that they're easy.  The thing to keep in mind is that easy to participate in is often not the same as best to participate in.  This is to say nothing of the commercialization of the platforms; that's a whole different discussion.

So I don't know.  Am I going to quit these social networks?  I don't know.  Maybe.  But probably not; strangely, the alternative is kinda daunting.  That strikes me as a sad thing to say, but it's telling of how these networks have affected my social interactions.  Rather, I think I want to start treating them as more of a vehicle for arranging real interactions.  I want to improve the static-to-noise ratio of my interactions with my friends.  I don't want to know what you're doing every single day.  I want to have a conversation with you and find out how you've been since the last time I saw you.  I want to arrange a time to meet up and go to dinner, or get a drink, or have a bike ride.