facebook

Facebook. Myspace. One and the same really. Now obviously there has been much deliberation and debate around these two programs and I am going to give my personal viewpoint on the matter. Now while I wish that my viewpoint would be the one to end all subsequent discussion it is not what I am really hoping for. Maybe this is just my voice joining the chorus of misaligned opinions and doing nothing other than mis-aligning them some more... but here goes.

1. The difference between needing it and it needing you...
It is a good starting point I reckon. Can you live without facebook? Yes. Can facebook survive without you? No. Facebook has more of a need for humans to network than man has the need to do so. Where previously people were forced to express social longing and needs for socialisation in the immidiate world around them, people are now able to do so in an environment that is more impersonal than personal. I just wonder about the repercussions of people replacing regular social contact with virtual social contact. I can't remember the last time a stranger introduced themselves to me and asked to have coffee (presuming that it has ever even happened...) Yet in the last 2 weeks i have been asked to coffee twice by perfect strangers who found my page interesting?? How does that work? The bottom line is that we can get by fine without it. It depends on us and yet because we give it so much attention and time (point 3) we create a situation where we need it. Where we can't get by without it. Seems a bit upside down to me.

2. Is the innovation creating the need or is the need creating the innovation?...
Ah, my favourite view of technology is this: Technology must make your life easier. If it makes your life more complex and difficult then it's not serving it's purpose. Technology needs to give us time, not take it away. Technology needs to simplify not complexify. (that word just got created... it used to be that the dictionary defined the english language... but now it seems i can 'add to dictionary' ... so you will be pleased to know that complexify is now officially a word. yes, technology has made me a god... sorry for this tangent...) Technology must assist rather than hinder. I will always maintain that if the inclusion of new technology into your life steals time and energy then technology in that specific instance is not serving it's primary purpose: to make our lives easier.

And yet, i feel as though i should have a facebook. I feel excluded because i do not have one. Maybe i will miss an invitation (for the record, i love being invited for coffee..) Maybe i will miss something. I don't know what I will miss really. But I feel like it is something. And suddenly i realise that the innovation has created in me a need to have it. Surely technology is working backwards here? ... It should be that there was a need and now technology is meeting it. I have no doubt that this is how it started and that it works this way around for some and consequently I would have to concede that facebook is terrific. For those people only. For those (like me) who feel that the innovation has caused the need, i would question your attitude towards technology. Is it helping you or are you helping it?

3. How much idle time do you spend between your face and your book?
If points 1 and 2 have failed to register anything significant with you then i would like to suggest a point 3 that for me personally became the deciding factor. Time. It is precioius. I throw enough of it down the toilet already without needing any help from facebook. How much time does it take from you? If you had to invest the time that you spend there into another (dare i say, more noble) initiative would it pay more dividends? For me, subjectively speaking, the clear answer is yes.

This is more of a personal standard than anything else. It is certainly no dig at people who find valuable meaning in being connected via facebook, myspace or whatever else. If anything I am envious of the people who don't have the same struggles of hesitation that i have. Regardless, let's keep our heart where our treasure is. Let's not replace personal interaction with online chat.

Let's not reduce ourselves to virtual outlines and 'about me' explanations. The greatest treasures lie hidden, not advertised.