Jumping off a cliff

I'm reminded of what I guess all mothers say at some point: "If everyone jumped off a cliff, would you have to jump?" Implying, of course, that you absolutely should not do that; you should think for yourself. Well, evidently that's not true anymore. Seems we're expected to do what everyone else does. Seems everything you do online has to let you know what your friends did or bought. Whenever I sign on to Facebook, I'm told how many of my friends have given them their phone number. I guess I’m supposed to say, "Oh, if my friends did it I guess I'd better do it, too."

I was just at Walmart's website looking for an item I'd looked at before. I couldn't remember the details so I wondered if there was a history. I noticed a link for *wishlist* so thought maybe I'd added it there. A click informs me of the top items that other people are wishing for. Seriously? I do not give a rat's behind what people I don't even know are wishing for. Sure, if I were trying to get ideas for what a friend wanted as a gift, I'd be glad to have access to his or her wishlist.

Why do I need to know what strangers want? Is knowing what other people want going to influence me to want that item? Reminds me of, "Guess I'll head on out to the store and see what they have that I desperately need that I never even knew existed."

That’s what Earthchild thinks about it. What do you say?