MySpace Drama (Revised)

More thoughtful rewrite of an earlier post... :)

My husband and I have been arguing about MySpace. First, it was that he thought the whole thing was stupid. Then, when he finally acknowledged that it could at least be useful some of the time, he had me help him create an account. But that was over two years ago and he still refuses to add me as a friend. Which of course makes me bananas because I want to display him prominently as my top friend. (I mean, marriage should have some perks, right?) He says it's because we can talk in person. I say the more means of communication, the better--keeps things entertaining.

I sort of get it, but the difference in our perceptions of this service/tool is fascinating, though. Maybe it's generational. Or gender. He's an extrovert and likes to talk (and talk...). I'm an introvert and talking annoys me. A lot.

There's the power aspect, of course: if I have access, I can "check up" on him; if he doesn't have access, he can taunt me with something I can't have. But really, it's not about who has a secret life on the internet as much as it is that we each really see MySpace as a different kind of tool.

For me, MySpace is a central way to keep track of my (collection of) friends and display my interests and whatever's new in my life. Let's face it, it's a vehicle for showing off. So it stands to reason that I'd want my husband right there with all my other friends. To me, "top friends" are top friends--not my favorite bands or whatever--so it stings a little bit that he doesn't want me there, especially if he'd just added me in the first place we both would have long ago forgotten about it.

I'm not exactly sure what kind of a tool MySpace is for him, though since he claims he uses it primarily to talk to bands, I'm presuming it's basically clunky email tool with pictures used for communicating with bands who've given up regular email and web presence.

Maybe it's apt to say that for me MySpace is all about the network and for him it's all about the interaction? Or maybe he has a secret life on MySpace that's way too cool for me. Hard to say... :)