We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

A Million Friends

from The Freedom Of The Borough by Active Minds

/
  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    7" vinyl version with lyric booklet sleeve.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Freedom Of The Borough via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days

      £3.50 GBP

     

about

A number of years ago I was contacted on MySpace (remember that?) by somebody with a friend request. I had no idea who this person was, so I looked at their profile and saw that we had absolutely nothing in common whatsoever.
Their request had been accompanied by a message explaining that it was the person’s “ambition” to accumulate a million online “friends”. What an unbelievably pointless thing to want to do – I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.
Cultivating a social media profile has literally taken over some peoples lives. The number of friends and followers they have, the number of hits and likes they get for their postings – these have all become currency in the online world. They validate your existence, and are somehow seen as proof of your worth. People who are a bit lost or who feel socially inadequate in face-to-face company can reinvent themselves in cyberspace – paint themselves in a whole new positive light to others who will never meet them in person.
Recent studies have shown that the more time people spend on social media, the more likely they are to feel socially isolated. Rather than making a more connected world, it is increasing the sense of loneliness amongst its heaviest users – those who spend too much time comparing their lives to those of others, and whose online “friends” are actually strangers.
The person I received the friend request from all that time ago was spending a huge amount of time in his search for a million friends. I wonder if he ever asked himself why he was doing it.

lyrics

To collect a million virtual friends
Is as challenging and meaningful
As collecting pubic hairs from your carpet.

What will you do when you’ve reached your goal?

To collect a million virtual friends
Is as vacuous and pointless
As counting the number of bricks in your high street.

There’s a real world outside your window, don’t you know?

credits

from The Freedom Of The Borough, released May 4, 2018

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Active Minds Scarborough, UK

contact / help

Contact Active Minds

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Active Minds, you may also like: