The Perils of Facebook
The title of this post might sound like I am going to warn you against putting sensitive information on your Facebook profile, or to never accept friend requests from strangers. While I do advise you to use caution and discretion, but that is not the purpose of this post. I am simply advising you to be careful with Facebook, because it is literally changing the way we communicate with one another. To be frank, I hate Facebook. The only reason I still have one is to keep in touch with friends who live far away and to look at pictures. Let me give you some reasons for my abhorrence of one of the most popular websites.
When you chat with someone, or even write on their wall, it is completely different than calling them up, writing a letter, or even sending an email. You don't see the other person's facial expressions, hear their tone of voice, observe their body language, etc. Also, if you are writing in a public place, such as a comment box or someone's wall, the conversation will quickly become skewed to attract the attention of others. Letters and emails are far more personal, not to mention calling a friend up and actually checking up on them.
As Facebook evolves, I have noticed a disturbing trend. Instead of talking about interesting, meaningful topics, most people fritter away their time commenting on stupid posts or status updates. Rather than a build a conversation, people deconstruct a topic until their is absolutely nothing to be said about it.
This leads me to my last point, which is how Facebook somehow steals time from you. It is far too easy to get completely distracted, until you find yourself 2 hours later stalking some kid who played soccer with you when you were 7 years old.
Having said that, I will still keep my Facebook. It is important for keeping up with friends and family, especially now that I will be graduating soon. However, I will watch how much time I spend on it, an ensure that my conversations/comments are meaningful and constructive.
When you chat with someone, or even write on their wall, it is completely different than calling them up, writing a letter, or even sending an email. You don't see the other person's facial expressions, hear their tone of voice, observe their body language, etc. Also, if you are writing in a public place, such as a comment box or someone's wall, the conversation will quickly become skewed to attract the attention of others. Letters and emails are far more personal, not to mention calling a friend up and actually checking up on them.
As Facebook evolves, I have noticed a disturbing trend. Instead of talking about interesting, meaningful topics, most people fritter away their time commenting on stupid posts or status updates. Rather than a build a conversation, people deconstruct a topic until their is absolutely nothing to be said about it.
This leads me to my last point, which is how Facebook somehow steals time from you. It is far too easy to get completely distracted, until you find yourself 2 hours later stalking some kid who played soccer with you when you were 7 years old.
Having said that, I will still keep my Facebook. It is important for keeping up with friends and family, especially now that I will be graduating soon. However, I will watch how much time I spend on it, an ensure that my conversations/comments are meaningful and constructive.
I thought of you:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-february-15-2006/trendspotting---social-networking