It seems that a ton of threads on TFP lately (especially in Sexuality) make reference to Facebook, myspace, friendster, etc. As a grad student at a massive university, it also seems that every undergraduate (and even quite a few graduates) are connected to one or more of these websites.
I'm wondering what the appeal is to these pseudo-networking, stalker-encouraging, drama-inducing, attention-whoring websites (you can see my bias).
Personally, I have seen very little good come out of these things, based on watching my friends and how the websites affect their relationships. What I mostly see is a lot of clique-forming and basically spying on each other, particularly those individuals who are in an insecure relationship (or one freshly ended; those are the worst!). I have one friend who constantly checks her ex's Facebook accounts and away messages, etc... it is unbelievable how she is unable to cut herself off from an emotionally damaging (but dramatic, and therefore fulfilling to her?) situation.
I wonder what role technology plays in inducing people to become more insecure, or if people would have demonstrated this kind of stalking behavior 15, 25, 35+ years ago, without the very accessible infrastructure for keeping an eye on others. I mean, I don't consider myself especially ancient (26), and I use the internet a lot... but these websites hold no appeal for me. I don't have an account on any of them, but my friends are constantly telling me that I should join, that I'm missing out on something great. I say bullshit, but that's just me.
Still, I want to understand why these particular structures appeal to so many people. Thoughts?