When I first heard about Facebook, it seemed like it was this secret college networking website for people to stay connected and/or become connected with people from college and university campuses around the country. Kind of like a secret club for the people paying for further education but in website form. So, not currently enrolled in school at the time, I joined MySpace. It was cool for a while, having the ability to change your profile colors, trying to get as many friends as possible, leaving cute messages on the custom spaces people put on their page, and writing messages letting people know what I was doing. As if they asked.
Eventually, it became clear that MySpace was more of a teenager thing..
sure adults used it, but it became so much more of an excuse to turn emo and post self portraits taken in front of a mirror. That got a little annoying. I decided to check out Facebook again, since I started going back to school part time. Lo and behold, it was no longer simply for students; Facebook was and is available to anyone who has an email address and can put in a birthday. I signed up and only spent a few minutes navigating the page to get my bearings. It's completely user friendly, and despite the rising number of groups that form wanting things changed on the site, I find it simple and convenient for so many things. I can let people know how I'm doing, leave messages on someone's wall, send secret messages to one or a few people, post pictures from my latest adventures, and even get invited to join a number of causes, groups, and applications. I'm not a huge fan of joining these invites... there's too many and honestly I don't see the need most often.
When I started seeing relatives, parents, church staff people etc joining, I won't lie; I struggled with it at first. Not because I have anything to hide, but it somehow made that fish bowl effect very hard to miss. I would see someone at church and they would comment about a picture of mine they had seen. Kind of creepy really. Nonetheless, I have gotten over my discomfort of everyone on the planet joining Facebook, and focus now on the positive aspects it provides. I can communicate anything to people, whether or not they are my friend. I can send messages to people without having to know their email address, catch up with old and new friends, update my status using my cell phone and read other ground-breaking news from friends as they update their status (including pictures, oh how excited I was when I saw Penelope's first picture!). I can keep in touch with friends I have made all across the world without paying a dime, waste time on ridiculous quizzes and find out my true Greek Goddess name, let people know about upcoming events they should attend and find out about ones I would like to go to. And although it can be very easy to spend an enormous amount of time on Facebook, generally it's become a unique and helpful tool to connect with a wide variety of people.
As always, however, there are some who would use freedom of speech combined with a networking website to their own advantage. Facebook allows users to block other users from having access to your page and information and with a simple setting change, those who are not friends with you yet would also be blocked from seeing you. While privacy and hackers are natural concerns on the world wide web, this feature has actually caused more problems than you would expect. Let's say you have a real life friend who is also your friend on Facebook. One day, or after a series of events, you and this person are no longer on speaking terms. With just a few clicks, you or the other person could block or "unfriend" the other. If that person finds out..... a battle begins. Users turn into children, fighting like one person stole the other person's cracker after nap time and now they are not friends anymore, turning around and putting on a huge pout. I'm talking about adults here. Hence, real friendships are now defined by Facebook friendships.
It's like those people who play mass internet games; there are RL (real
life) friends and in-game friends, furthering the gap between reality and fiction, blurring the definition of both. It's no wonder communication these days is so terrible. No one really needs to communicate face to face because they can just jump online and say whatever they want and there's no pressure to deal with the ensuing heat. Sure people can comment on the posts and ask why they wrote it, but there's nothing that says they have to respond. It's a release with almost no responsibility or punishment.
I say all this not to bash Facebook; I'm an avid user and will continue to be so. It's just that I am finding it's yet another way to prove the unmistakable depravity of our fallen world. Friends turning against each other, bashing people specifically by name, acting like children when their virtual feelings get bruised. Sorry folks, just gotta say, please grow up and just enjoy this website for what good it brings, not for the easy out it provides.
1 comment:
Bahahahaha!! Say it like it is girl!
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