I was eating dinner with a group of friends this weekend, and we happened to be talking about something someone had posted on Facebook. All of sudden, one of my friends exclaimed he has been thinking about quitting the big F…Facebook. One after another, others agreed with him saying, “I know! I have been thinking about doing that for some time!” This was definitely not the first time I heard this before, but I was really curious why they were so motivated in getting rid of a social network site as if they were trying to knock off a nasty addiction to cigarettes. So, I asked the friend that had initiated this interesting topic why he wanted to, and what he said intrigued me.
[Photo Credit: TechTimes]
Facebook is everywhere. You use it with your friends, you use it with your classmates and yes, unfortunately your parents attempt to use it with you. There are about 500 million people on Facebook with full accounts, friends and a profile that tell a good chunk about their life. About half of those people use it on their mobile devices…meaning that they take it with them wherever they go.
There are so many different ways people use Facebook: to connect with peers around them, to connect with loved ones they do not see on a daily basis, to show others their interests, goals and hobbies, and maybe to meet new people. However, it is safe to say that rather than becoming a “portfolio,” or displaying additional information from our lives, it has become our actual reputation and “face” that we present in the digital world.
What is usually shown on a profile? What do we usually post? What do we usually like? We usually like to add pictures of eventful happenings, or post about something interesting that happened to us, or something we read about. Yet, that just cannot happen every second, every day, every week in our lives…realistically. The honest truth is…our lives are not that interesting. So, why is it that we are pressured to pretend that we are some celebrities for others to “follow” and “like” the activities of our lives, as if it is so important for others to care?
There is no right or wrong answer, some people say it is the user’s responsibility, some say there is no way to use Facebook without being genuine and true to your identity.
My friend’s response to my question that day at dinner was not deep or profound. He simply explained that his profile was not him, it was the best face that he could show, but he shamefully could not stop. Whether he was pressured, or maybe he liked the escape of putting a good face on for anyone…who knows, one thing we know is that before we put a “face” on the internet, maybe we should think about why we are doing it, and who we are presenting.