Our reading for tonight's class contains an article from Time written by Lev Grossman titled "Mark Zuckerberg"--the creator of Facebook. I found the article engaging and thought-provoking, and I look forward to discussing it with my classmates tonight.
The article exposed many of my mixed emotions about Facebook. I am a Facebook user, but it took me a long time to feel comfortable about sharing pictures of my life online. I'm still not completely comfortable with the idea. When I was growing up in the 70's and 80's, I was inundated with scary stories about people abducting children. We were firmly told to never have our names printed on ourselves so that strangers would know our names. Now that I have my own children, those scary stories of my youth create an even greater fear in my heart. Yet, the style of children's clothing, at least in my area of the country, is such that embroidering a child's name or at least initials is considered a must. Especially for babies through early elementary age. And everyone I know who has a Facebook account posts pictures of their children and families. So I'm torn. I want to share my adventures with my kids with my friends, but how many of my Facebook friends are true friends?
I have given up Facebook for lent, and I do miss it. I miss knowing things about my friends' lives. However, I don't crave it. I can exist without it. I've thought that had I posted a link to this blog on my Facebook account, I might have gotten more readers. Perhaps I'll have time to try that after Easter and see if I get more followers than myself, my husband, and my best friend!
One sentence from the article struck me: "Facebook is supposed to build empathy, but since 2000, Americans have scored higher and higher on psychological tests designed to detect narcissism, and psychologist have suggested a link to social networking" (paragraph 67). I do think that the term "social networking" can be an oxymoron when it applies to Facebook. I may find out things about my friends' lives through the site, but I'm not socializing with them. I more peering into their lives--voyeuristic. I tend to view FB posts as mini-blogs of "oh, I'm so fabulous, look at my life." Now, I say all this, and I work to make cute, funny posts on FB. So I'm just as guilty.
Wait, you have a husband?
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