[ SECRET POST #578 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #578 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

So much fail today.

FS Layout Contest. Contest entries close August 10th!

Secrets Left to Post: 10 pages, 248 secrets from Secret Submission Post #083.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 - broken links ], [ 1 2 - not!secrets ], [ 1 2 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 - too big ], [ 1 2 - repeat ], [ 1 - take it to comments ], [ 1 - secret in webdings that I'm too lazy to translate and check for posting ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

101. True, being around people who share similar interests can help socially awkward people open up...but only to other people who share their interests in a 'safe' environment. I'm no psychologist, but I think a big reason that so many people now feel isolated is because it's getting easier and easier to control who they talk to and interact with.

I think David Wong's popular article on the inconveniences of the 21st century sums it up better than I can:

Yet, on the whole, people back then were apparently happier in their jobs and more satisfied with their lives. And get this: They had more friends.

That's right. Even though they had almost no ability to filter their peers according to common interests (hell, often you were just friends with the guy who happened to live next door), they still came up with more close friends than we have now--people they could trust.

It turns out, apparently, that after you get over that first irritation, after you shed your shell of "they listen to different music because they wouldn't understand mine" superiority, there's a sort of comfort in needing other people and being needed on a level beyond common interests. It turns out humans are social animals after all. And that ability to suffer fools, to tolerate annoyance, that's literally the one single thing that allows you to function in a world populated by other people who aren't you. Otherwise, you turn emo. Science has proven it.

I think cons and special interest groups are a double-edged sword in that respect. Being social means more than just talking to people who think exactly like you and share similar interests. (that's a general 'you', by the way!)

[fandaban.livejournal.com]

Ah, once again, a good point! Luckily the average con-goer only has access to very few conventions a year. I think they're good for general fun, but indeed if someone was exposed to that sort of environment too often the results would be even a more intense version of what you speak of. It makes sense that the common interest filter does cripple social development. :/

But also, we're talking about many people that have an extreme lack of social development... and for those people I think convention can help them to warm up to trying to socialize more frequently. Personally, I think they've aided me in that manner. :)