Facebook: Taking Over

There is a certain necessity in today’s society to be in constant communication with others, which is facilitated with media outlets such as Facebook. As we have said over and over again, Facebook has revolutionized media and communication because everything we every wanted and everything we every needed to know is at the tips of our fingers. But, with this, there is also a metamorphosis in the way people live.

There is a loss in privacy, where anyone and everyone knows what we are doing at any time, even “friends” we do not know.  It is very possible that a “friend” is not the person you spend all night up with studying for an AP, but a random cyber acquaintance you met one summer and never talked to again. Yet on Facebook, there is no difference. People pour their whole life stories onto their Facebook profiles for everyone to see every little detail.  However, we are so surprised when people we do not know seem to know our favorite TV shows and movies.  Employers judge prospective employees from last weekend’s tagged photos.  We no longer live in a world where we can have secrets since everything is out there.

There is also a loss in etiquette for the adapted “m-etiquette,” where not connecting with the person you are speaking to is acceptable.  Instead of picking up a cellphone to call someone, you can pick up you cellphone and write on their walls.  Don’t even suggest walking over to a friend’s house, it would take too long and too much energy.  Because of this, we fail to see the true emotional and facial expressions in the interactions we have.  How will others know you actually care about what they are saying, or that you are paying attention? The learned social skills that people have had in the past that are necessary such as having eye contact when others are speaking to you, slowly begins to disappear. 

There is also a change in attitude in how we view information.  Everything is personalized for us.  As it is said in this article, Facebook Popcultural Phenomeon Impact Business Society, marketing companies target audiences based on how one personalizes their pages and who one’s friends are.  Examples that they give include the Internet radio Spotify that “lets people share and discover new music with their Facebook friends” and Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign which let younger people become more informed in a way they would respond.  Facebook is their stimulus. 

Not only have we changed our lives, we have also coined new terms like “friended” and “Facebooked” to accommodate and express what we do on Facebook. 

Despite all the bad from Facebook, there is some good.  Without Facebook, we cannot connect to as many people as we can, and those who are shy could be more like extroverts.  But do all these negative affects of Facebook out weight the positives that Facebook has given us?  Maybe these changes are just meant to be.

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_20604628/facebook-ipo-cultural-phenomenon-impact-business-society?source=rss