CC Chapman had a great post recently asking, “Are you one of the crazies?”

In it, he discusses how people who spend as much time in front of a computer as many of us do tend to end up with a warped sense of reality. In summary, he lists characteristics of “crazies” such as:

• A higher sense of self-worth due to a ranking on social stats type of site
• An uncontrollable urge to share before thinking
• The sense that world revolves around you
• Sharing, but never creating anything original
• Lack of basic good manners

And, the one that really jumped out at me:

• In a face-to-face social setting, getting jittery if they haven’t looked at a screen rather than talking to the person next to them for more than five minutes.

He then goes on to mention how spending so much time away from interacting with people can cause us to lose some of the most basic social skills.

I agree with him and I think that there can be inflated egos due to the attention someone may get online if they never get into the real world and assume that life happens through a screen. Too often we get so focused on the fishbowl that we forget that a large part of the world knows nothing about the world we spend so much time in. This has been made very clear to me when I’ve mentioned something Scoble said at a gathering, only to be met with confused stares and questions like, “Who’s that?”

Crazy or Introverted?

While I think that it can be a short trip from normal to crazy, I think something that can be in play (at least with his last point) was summarized well by Mack Collier in his post, Why introverts love Social Media.

Like many other people, that post resonated with me because I saw a lot of myself in it.

Many times, social situations are stressful for me. Many times, I get uneasy talking to someone new because I just don’t seem to know what to say. I find it much easier to think through my statements behind a keyboard before interacting with someone. That feeling of it being a “little less real” when looking at a screen makes it easier to get my thoughts out.

But, when I’m around people, without miles and bandwidth separating us, I sometimes find myself insecure or uneasy, which leads me to be somewhat less social, which makes me fear that I may be perceived as egotistical, uninterested or “one of the crazies” who doesn’t know how to act in a social situation. In fact, it’s just old fashioned shyness.

Spotting the “crazies”

While I agree with CC that the crazies are out there, I think sometimes they’re hard to recognize because they may not be self centered, they may just be uncomfortable and shy.

On the other hand, if someone shouts at you, “Don’t you know who I am? My Klout score is 80!”…that might be a giveaway that they’re one of the crazies.

 

 Photo by brainloc