Before I start, I just want to say that I am not trying to
bash anybody that uses these sites (don’t worry, I do too) on a regular basis,
just discuss a few things I have noticed.
The other day, I was talking to my friend about the benefits
and downfalls of having a facebook. One of the biggest downfalls that we
discovered was finding out information through facebook and not directly from
the person who is posting it. My friend told me a story of a friend who had
gotten tickets to a concert with her friend, and then proceeding to find out
through facebook that the other girl had chosen to go to the concert with
somebody else. It just surprised me so much that somebody did not have the
courage to say something that simple to somebody’s face and have them find out
through a PUBLIC SITE some private information.
I think the biggest point is that it has a huge affect on
relationships between people. People will talk about “that girl that posted
that thing on facebook, can you believe her?” It can make people think
different of you, whether that is a good thing. Sometimes, I find it to be a
strange way of bragging about everything you are doing at any minute of the
day. But let’s be honest, how many of those “friends” do you actually know?
There are definitely positives, don’t get me wrong. I
frequently use facebook to communicate with people about homework for a certain
class or something funny that happened at school that I can’t text or call them
about. Facebook can be useful, but it does change the relations among peers.
We're at a point where newborns have facebook pages, maintained by their proud parents. Think about that for a sec.
ReplyDeleteSocial networks (and plenty else about the 'net) raises deep questions about concepts we haven't had to question in quite a long time. Such as, what does "privacy" mean any more? And, as you point out, how does face-to-face communication balance with...well, facebook-to-facebook?
And on and on...It's a new world we live in. I am happy to be among the last people on earth who will remember what it was like before the internet. (IT WAS A LIVING HELL. Just kidding.)