Socially Awkward

Lately I've noticed an epidemic that is spreading faster than the swine flu. It's an outbreak of social awkwardness. For those of you who are not aware...Social Awkwardness is a condition where a person does not know how to properly react with other people. I think the recent outbreak has much to do with the internet and social networking sites such as dating sites and such. The reason is that people usually default to taking the easy way out of things. If its easier to type what they have to say instead of saying it, then they would rather do so. People would rather chat online than talk on the phone or meet for a cup of coffee to discuss things. I've noticed that in my own life, I've fallen into the same category to some extent. I have a mild case though. I still face who and what I have to face but there are plenty of times where I find myself forcing myself to call instead of texting or sending an email. I actually have caught myself texting or even writing letters to certain people just to deal with them instead of interact with them. I would rather sometimes send a text just so I can get to the point faster and get a quicker response than to have to go through the "formality" of the "hi, how are yous." But when it comes down to it, I always can still get along and do and say what I have to. I'm not too far gone yet with that. I'm trying to put a cap on it but since I notice it, its not too bad yet. Some of us can't though and that is something that is getting worse and is spreading quickly nowadays. Being socially awkward within the social medias is yet another phenomenon that I've also noticed recently. Why do certain people give thumbs up for everything and comment on everything you post yet you never really have had a real conversation with them? "De-friending" is actually taken seriously and people sometimes end up "de-friending" in real life after they "de-friend" online. Since when is that real? Now I'm guilty of online dating. I'll admit to that. It was a little easier because you could actually read profiles and see what a persons interests were (and here's the key) without even asking them. I could find out a lot without interacting at all with them. Then instead of just talking, you instant message. So you are still not even really talking to the person.I could scroll through just like I'm shopping online and see which one I might be interested in instead of dealing with them really, like interacting and finding out the hard way. See its an example of taking the easy way out...there isn't anything necessarily wrong with it. Technology is a great tool but we have to be careful that we do not become socially awkward people and become over dependent on it to the point where it seems a lot of people are getting to where they are faced in situations where they have to be able to just deal with it and they can't.