Friday, February 4, 2011
... the joy of facebook
George Herbert Mead says 'we are only able to concieve ourselves in relation to other people.' This is a great quote because most of our daily actions are in response or for a response from other peers. Facebook poses an almost caddy realization of this, and how truly narcasistic our generation is. For me, the most prevelant part of the reading was analyzing what I value, especially in relation to my peers. If I look at my last status update on fb, it was a year ago, but my 'friends' update everyday. Do they do it out of bordem, seeking attention, insecurities of their current life-situation , for fun? Id say it varies greatly for each individual. I personally dont log on to facebook because I would rather talk to a person, via txt, in person or on the phone. I feel like the more I 'give in' to facebook, the less my real needs are met. Unfortunately for me, the direction of our media- revolution seems to be crazily dependent on fb. The article says 'communication overload has inspired a teen movement of 'switching off'" This suprised me because teens, well and adults, are so concerned with peers reaction to them, it is hard to turn the cheek. Almost if someone says have a drink, even if you dont want one, the temptaion is there, and very hard to ignore. Ellis also says 'facebook is an extension of language' This sentence is the most appropriate summary of fb, without over analyzing the topic, because ironiclly in doing so Im annoyed that Im catogorizing myself as anti-fb. I dont take it too seriously, by staying away from it, I feel I am in the best position posible.
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I really liked the qoute "facebook is an extenaion of language". It truely is. I think that many people blame facebook for new tenencies that we have developed but I believe that that these tenencies were always there to begin with. People who seek attention will do so on facebook, but they are probably the type to do that in real life already. I notice my friends act very similarly on facebook to real life. The tenencies are there, facebook just gives individuals an outlet. With that said I encourage you to at least give facebook a try. You will still be yourself. Facebook is just a tool, and one that is vital to the century we are living in. I reccomend you give it a try, it could not hurt.
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