MySpace-aholics Anonymous

I have recently realized that I have a problem.

Good guess, but no, it's not that hosting a blog based solely on bitching makes me appear bitter in the eyes of those who know me--and even those who don't. And, incidentally, I do realize that a good portion of you probably have no desire to meet me for fear that I'm a huge bitch. I'm really not, there's just a lot of things in life that are fundamentally frustrating. While I do write those frustrations down in order to blog about them later, I just want all those in the blogosphere to know that I am honestly not bothered by said frustrations for more than the twenty minutes it takes to write about them. Now--back to the point...

MySpace is the death of any and all productivity.

There, I said it. Some of you are probably throwing your hands up in disgust wondering how a person could say such a thing about their precious online community, while others are just rolling their eyes and thinking that I'm one of those uber conservative, sheltered individuals that won't let my kids watch television and refuses to get high speed internet. But, no matter how you reacted, I bet that just reading the title of this particular post tempted you to open another browser window and check your MySpace profile. This is not ok.

I initially joined MySpace after I moved to Los Angeles. I had graduated from college and felt as though I needed to move on from The Facebook, the wildly popular online community which requires a college email account to join. I found a couple friends from high school through MySpace who, although they weren't "lost," had been lost to me and I began to use the voyeuristic website more frequently. My casual use escalated to such a degree that MySpace visits during a minute or two of free time at work somehow resulted in the loss of an entire afternoon. It's very scary when you know what you were doing for those four lost hours, but can't really remember--like how many people, bands, and filmmakers can a person stalk before it gets ridiculous?

Because of my MySpace obsession, which drew my attention from other more important websites, I had no clue why Mexican-American high school students were running down the 10 Freeway on my way to Santa Monica. I had no knowledge of the new immigration law proposal that is plaguing the country's Latino community at the moment.

After that realization, I have curbed my MySpace consumption and advise all to do the same. I can proudly say that, although I logged in briefly today to read a message I received, I have not logged in since last Thursday.

I hesitate to give a big boo to MySpace, so I'll just say boo to MySpace's mind-control potential.