Facebook just recently had it's 10th birthday, and has developed quite the reputation with elders, and young people alike. We are apparently the stupidest generation yet, with all this smart technology to decide things for us. Facebook worries people, and generates a sense of fear to those who don't understand its implications. Understandably so. To think how much our world has changed in the last 10 years because of Facebook is mad. You can feel what you want about the world of social media but to deny it's power over our lives like saying the sky is not blue. Those who choose to stay away from the world of Facebook are still being affected because they are taking a stand against a societal norm consciously knowing that they are doing so. It's their choice, and therefore an affecting agent in their lives. Those who choose to have Facebook in their lives are choosing an open door into not only yours, but a large chunk of the people whom they have come into contact with in their life. Once that door has been open, and you allow all these people into your personal life, it's very difficult to shut. Imagine a time when you didn't know what John Doe was doing for his Fourth of July and you slept just fine. I find myself peering into the lives of others often with envy, sometimes with joy, sometimes with curiosity and sometimes with aggravation. Why though? What does it do for me that the world on my Facebook wall is covered with new families, and young couples having children, and I don't have that yet. Before it was simply an idea, knowing what was happening in the world of women my age however allowing my mind to make of it what it may. Now it's displayed for me like a book and it is my choice to go see it everyday. Does that make me stupid? I find myself creepily picture stalking the girl living in Thailand and ignore the fact that bombs were just dropped in Jerusalem yet again killing dozens. Does that make me stupid?
Advocates for Facebook would argue that it has brought our world closer. Remember a time when we thought the world was so big? Now, we have the world at our fingertips. I remember sitting with my uncle and watching as my brother flew half way across the world using a fingertip and an application called Google maps. Zooming in to show him exactly what his small neighborhood looked like and which house was his. I am proud to say I live in a day where I can easily write to my family so far away, share pictures with them, and update my statuses so that they can have a glimpse of how my day is going. I can see what they want me to see, and if that means painting in image of a perfect life that may not necessarily be true, well then so be it. That is the image they'd generate anyways if I were to see them face-to-face. And I don't believe picture stalking makes us stupider as the world around us suffers. If anything, I am able to see and hear what others understand about a situation and then choose to make my own arguments based on what I know. We've been doing it for years, however now instead of debating with 2 others around a table, you are debating with 10 others around a Facebook status update. It's a different world, and we cannot rewind from here. We simply have to be more aware, aware of the world we live in.
Facebook is such a bizarre development if one were to sit down with another who has never heard about Facebook and try to describe this recent phenomenon. I do like that I am able to communicate ideas and share my likes with people. We did it before with chain-link emails. Only those brought everyone computer viruses. All this to say that yes, a man once had an idea and once that idea was created, it transformed and changed our world forever. For the better? Some might argue that. For the worse? I can't say I see any growth in human development as a change for the worse, because the higher we get, the more awareness we generate about the world we live in. A new generation has risen and I don't think I can argue we are a generation from the worst of times.
Food for Thought
