The dark side of engagism

The Sheraton Chicago hotel actually has a program to pry crackberry addicts from their devices. The hotel manager will lock up your voluntarirly surrendered Blackberry until you want it back. After several days without your blackberry, would you want it back?

USA Today ran an article today questioning whether "friending" on a social cite makes the friendships real. The article asks important questions like "How many friends should one have? What kind of friends should they be? Does seeking friends through MySpace help boost self-esteem, or might it be harmful?

Umm, did any of these people go to high school?

I don't know about you, but the where I went to high school the popular people (not me) collected people (and tossed them) with little consideration of whether they were "real" or not. I just had to laugh at the quote from a truly imminent (and I'm sure truly thoughtful) expert on the subject who stated "[f]riending really appeals to the ego, where friendships appeal to the conscience."

High school students? Egotistical? Call the "duh" police!

I'm not condoning the practice, I'm simply pointing out that it's nothing new. Whether it's ten friends or 100, high school students have been making "non-substantive" friendships since the beginning of time. It's what they do. They're in high school!