The other day, several of my friends from home wrote on my Facebook wall to ask where the heck I have been. This semester has been super busy so far and I haven't talked to them since I left home last month. I was able to quickly reply to them in a comment that I was sorry and we should talk soon. With our busy lives and mismatched schedules Facebook allows us to leave messages for each other which we can reply to at our own convenience.
Facebook also allows for less direct communication. A simple status update goes out to a community at large. Though it's not the most direct or ideal way to communicate it's better than nothing. Facebook allows me to feel like I know what's going on in the lives of my friends and family even though I may only be able to call them every few weeks.
That's what I find myself doing most of the time on Facebook; scrolling through my news feed for status updates, news stories from the sources I "like" and campus events. I would say that the majority of the time I spend on Facebook is not to communicate with any specific people but rather just to see what's going on. There's always something new posted so Facebook is where I turn when I'm bored or need a break from homework. Every time I open up Firefox, I immediately go to Facebook as if on auto pilot. Even when I get online to do something totally different, Facebook is inevitably where I end up. The amount of time I spend on it varies depending on what I'm doing, my schedule for the day and my workload but there isn't a day I go without Facebook. Now that I have it I can't imagine my life without it.
To be sure, that type of use of social networking is more passive and casual than direct and communicative. I think that's why the internet has developed as it has rather than becoming a "consensual hallucination" like in Gibson's matrix. As it is, I can get online anytime I want for any amount of time I want whether it be a few seconds before I run to class or for 30 minutes when I don't want to do my homework. In a matrix like Gibson's this type of casual use would not be possible. The very notion of having to "jack in" requires thought, time and equipment that aren't always available. Everyday use of the internet would likely be drastically altered if this type of planning were necessary every time we wanted to use it. If internet use were that formal I think it would be more accessible to professionals in the workplace than to daily home lives. To enter the matrix I would have to commit to it more than I have to when I jump online for a minute to check what my friends are up to.
I think it's interesting how a lot of us chose Facebook as our main focus during this mini-project. I suppose it's because it is the most widely used social networking site, and something that we can all relate to.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I like how you explained that Facebook is more convenient than a phone, because of its ability to quickly send information to a large group of people. It truly is a better form of communication (in most ways), and will be for a long time.
Mark Zuckerberg knew exactly how to appeal to his fellow college-students. Facebook may not consume the amount of time that World of Warcraft does, since one can use it casually (as I now do, to manage our Writing Center's FB site). As you not, however, it is addictive.
ReplyDeleteFacebook embodies, to follow up on Magellan's comment, "one-to-many" communication. Unlike Twitter, which is just status updates, FB has the distinct advantage of "one-stop" social networking. It's brilliant.