Once, when I was talking about the new, cool Facebook, my grumpy friend replied, "I resent the use of the word 'community' in this context." At the time I said, "Whatever, dude," but as I spend hours and hours on the computer looking at pictures of people I wouldn't even say hello to, I'm beginning to get a bit wary.
I mean, this isn't a new topic. MySpace has been around forever, along with Blogger and Flickr and Friendster, etc, etc, and maybe Facebook isn't as new and wonderful as we think. And, sure, Facebook is a great way to share pictures, exchange little notes. I guess I'm just a little afraid of what this might do to us.
According to Facebook, I have 293 friends. What?! I have 293 friends, yet, I spend almost every evening on the internet? Evidently, we have changed the meaning of "friend." A friend isn't someone you care about and hang out with - a friend is now someone you're willing to show your pictures to.
Are we slowly redefining our social practices based on a website? My homepage will tell me how your relationship status changed when I'm hardly willing to email you.
I know why we do it. We're all constantly waiting for someone to notice us, and now, we get to advertise. We all want to feel connected to people, and we can do that by looking at all the pictures they're in. But when does it start becoming a replacement for true friendships and real community?
Maybe I'm just lonely.*
*Just joking. Don't feel sorry for me.
1 comment:
I will always be your friend. Incidentally, this comment counts as an e-mail and a phone call and also possibly dinner in China town. Man, I like being your friend.
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