Word of the Day: Nocializing
Nocializing:
Remember how gym rats used to complain about people reading magazines on the treadmill? Well now it seems like everyone is busy nocializing. The funniest thing is when I see two friends texting each other on the stair master when there is one random person on the machine between them. You can tell they are texting each other because after person A sends the message they watch person B’s reaction to the message they just sent.
That’s a lot of pressure on person B. Not only does she have to not fall off the equipment while scrolling through a mobile device, she also has to have the correct social response that A was hoping for. I mean, can you imagine if A sent a hilarious snarky comment and B didn’t even smile? Or B did that obligatory smile-chuckle that people do when they know someone is watching them read a text and A took a picture of it and tweeted it out?
I’m really happy I’m not a single dude in my 20’s right now. Not only do dudes have to navigate the regular face-to-face dating complications, but dudes also have Facebook to deal with.
Girl: “Did you see that clip I posted to your wall?”
Dude: “Yeah, it was funny.”
Girl: “Well, you didn’t comment…”
Dude: “‘Cause we were meeting for lunch and I’m telling you in person – ”
Girl: “You could have just “liked” it. Now everyone out there thinks you didn’t like it.”
Dude: “But I – ”
Girl: “What’s our status? Are we going to keep it “single” forever or are we going to update it to “relationship”?”
AHHH!!
Sometimes I think social media is overwhelming. Before Facebook and Twitter people used to send tons of joke emails or “don’t break the chain” emails, which were annoying but were pretty easy to identify and either delete or skip until you had more time. But now important stuff is mixed in with trivial things, so if you’re not checking up online constantly, you might be missing something big.
For example, what if one day I was randomly on Facebook and between the inspirational fitness quotes and silly cat videos someone posted that their brother died? If I hadn’t been online at that exact moment I wouldn’t have seen the message and would have felt like a tool when I asked her how her brother was doing three months later, right?
Anyway, the moral of the story is don’t text while on the treadmill. The end.
Do you nocialize at the gym?
Lisa
- @sheslosingitnet
- http://www.facebook.com/ShesLosingItnet
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I do not nocialize at the gym. It’s something that irritates me beyond measures.
Sometimes I want to wave and say, “Look! A real person in front of you! How cool is that?”
LOL – I get it, I too would like to do that sometimes 🙂
Not trying to be a downer but a friends wife passed away a few days after Christmas but I missed it because I had 500 “friends” and not everyone comes through my feed. I found out months later and felt like a total jerk.
Oh no! Something similar happened to me – ditto on feeling like a jerk!