On Facebook

Gentlemen,
I don't know why I bring this up (other than a potentially $100Bn IPO), but today I want to talk about Facebook. It's pretty clear that the big FB is not going away any time soon and that it possibly has some redeeming uses (serving up ads for mediocre khaki pants is not one of them - does anyone else get those ads?). Still, for all its ubiquity, is Facebook making our lives better? Technologically, perhaps -

The author, with Wesleyan student and future U1EQ teacher Owen Bennion. Nepotism knows no bounds. 

When I entered college way back (guess when) (yes, we had the internet), I was issued with my University's publication for all Freshmen: "the face book". It was sort of like a menu of Freshmen - remember that girl in calculus whose name you always forget? That was how you figured out who she was and what her number was (numbers were listed, albeit on 4 digits since the college assumed you'd call them on a land line)( I'll explain what a landline was in a separate post).

When 'theFacebook.com' came out my Sophomore year, we all got what it was for! It was just an improved version of the weird thing the college had given us Freshman year. Phone numbers were instantly easier to retrieve! Hours could be lost learning what everyone's favorite band was! What's this 'poke' thing all about? Facebook was cool. No one's parents were on it, so it felt like a really kickin' house party with slow upload times and unlimited photo hosting.

The downside was that you could spend way too much time on it and feel like everyone else was out having fun and you're just staring at a cold computer screen. We've all been there. It's important to remember that social networking sites aren't real; they're the "reality television" equivalent of people's lives - they're "real", but not quite. This was in 2004. Things haven't changed.

Facebook is now a behemoth capable of doing everything except serve relevant ads. Netflix, Hulu and Youtube are making me question why I ever pay for cable. The internet is more powerful now than I'd imagined when I was in high school (altavista, anyone?), but still poses the same problems - reality is not to be found in front of a computer screen.

As basis for my screed, here's an article on psychological effects of living one's life online (ironically, you're not reading this on a broadsheet newspaper), and an Op/ed piece in the New York Times. I'm not suggesting we all deactivate our accounts. Instead, I am suggesting we prioritize the things that will matter the most to us and will help us to become better people. Here's a conference talk that hits the nail on the head:

Last but not least, I read this poem by Sherman Alexie some months back that sums up how I feel about people using Facebook as a primary means of social interaction: 

The Facebook Sonnet

Welcome to the endless high-school

Reunion. Welcome to past friends

And lovers, however kind or cruel.

Let's undervalue and unmend

The present. Why can't we pretend

Every stage of life is the same?

Let's exhume, resume and extend

Childhood. Let's all play the games

That preoccupy the young. Let fame

And shame intertwine. Let one's search

For God become public domain.

Let church.com become our church.

Let's sign up, sign in and confess

Here at the altar of loneliness.

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