Post-Modern Coquettes

I think of myself as something of a neophyte to the cyber-cliques of myspace.com.
An observer on the inside, perhaps a post-modern ethnographer. Only thing, unlike Winnemucca of the Piutes or Hurston in rural Florida, I lack a certain cyber-culture insider status. Or, let's say I lack certain technologically enhanced social skills? Perhaps the equivalent to the bull in the china shop...no, actually the plundering, aggressive forward thrust is the very m.o. of cyber socialization.
Technological distance allows for that creation of a persona. It also promotes predatory strategies for self-advancement and "friend" recruitment. Vehicles such as Facebook and Myspace blur the boundaries between teens' quest for high school popularity and adults' intrigue with the topic of the at their office's water-cooler. Both entertain a certain level of omphaloskepsis that did not get thrown by the wayside after graduation... It's like a neo-Neverneverland, no one has to grow up and everyone can be desirable!
But part of attaining that desired inside status of being desired means flirting. You flirt in order to become desirable. Simple pimple: we like people who make us feel good about ourselves. And what about when that heavy cyber-petting, ego stroking, is a means to narcissistic ends? (Aw, hell, why do you have to bring ethical questions into it? We all just want to have fun...) But then why must we self-aggrandize and self-promote through such extroverted channels? A former friend once spoke of lattes and gore-tex as created needs... Well, one's hotness-status is another created need, right?
And, oh, the time it takes to create oneself! When we could be learning something new, planting trees, (hell, even working to earn money--what a concept!), saving manatees, cleaning the gutters, holding the door for someone, reading something outside our norm, walking to the store, .... we-as-first-worlders (not that I like the hierarchy of such terms, but I cannot ignore the social reality of wealth and leisure time..) have so many choices, so much freedom in how we use our time, really.
It is, indeed, all a little "creepy," as Ivan said. Especially when flirting is non-specific, it's a generic littering of "hey, sexy!" And the absurdity of the corny graphic inserts on a Wednesday, "Happy Hump Day!", which invite a variety of graphics pimped to your "humping" taste--the fantasy Xena-esque amazon, a dominatrix, a mud-flap-trucker chick....
But who am I to judge? After all, I can now post my blathering online, anonymously, instead of conversing with some kind of eye contact? You'd never think I'd be versed in "Courtesy 101" if this was all you knew of me...