I am a big supporter of Facebook. In fact I really enjoy Facebook, and I see a lot of good in it. I am deleting my Facebook.
Facebook is a great place for me to check up on the people I love. A status update can tell me that someone is doing well, struggling, got a new job, or has a hot girlfriend. A lot of people post things that I really enjoy watching and seeing. It is a blast to see pictures of me and my friends. I have a lot of friends that I otherwise wouldn’t be friends with. Facebook has reuinited me with people I haven’t talked to in years, helped me find soccer players, get in contact with people, and even share with people how great life can be. It helps me to know what events to attend, and quickly get a group of people together. Oh and last but not least, Facebook helps me remember my Mom’s birthday.
Recently though, I had a conversation with close friend Kyle Quackenbush about how Facebook has changed our world. Robert Putnam's book on the collapse and revival of the American community, Bowling Alone, sums it up pretty well: our communities are being rocked. We are no longer meeting our neighbors, we are no longer calling each other, we are no longer having face to face conversations. There are a lot of things I could write here, but I will save them for a later date.
Basically I am deleting my Facebook as a social experiment. I want to see how my life is different without it. Will I lose touch with people? Will I get closer with the people I know? Will I meet my neighbors? Will I go crazy? Will I have more free time? Will I miss out on stuff? How will my social interactions change? All of these things and more will be asked and answered moving forward, as I begin an online journal keeping track with the progress. Wish me luck!
2 comments:
Dear Sean,
Now I know that I'm old and maybe not in the loop on whats cool or hip but it seems to me that your experiment is flawed. I commend you on your attempt to connect with humans on a true face to face basis. I think though giving up one social network for another i.e. Facebook for Twitter really what is it you are giving up. I agree with you that "status, post, blog, Like this, and even texting can't replace an hour and a good cup of coffee with a real person but you have to admit the social networks allow you to connect with a huge audience in a short amount of time. I think we need to rethink the social networks like why aren't our neighbors on our friends list. We could use our status to keep each other accountable by writing what difference we where going to make today and not I just ate at Buffalo Wild Wings. Now all this comes from a guy who checks his Facebook once a week whether i need to or not. I commend you on your effort I'm just a little confused...................Your Brother in Christ, Kirk Miller
Kirk!
Phenomenal points. As far as replacing one social network (facebook) for another (twitter), I see what you are saying. However I would not consider twitter or facebook the same. The difference being Twitter operates, for me at least, as more of a blog than facebook. I can certainly @Someone but it isn't a place where we can chat, say HI to each other, etc. etc. It is more of a quick idea so people can check up on me. However, I do see your point, it is kind of redundant to quit one to switch to the other. The same could be said for the resurgence of my blogspot, however.
As far as your points on facebook being tweeked or reworked on an individual basis to be better, I completely agree! In fact Kirk, that is what I am attempting to find out. I believe that much of what I will learn is that facebook is very, very usefull and effective. This isn't an experiment to say why facebook is bad, it is an experiment to learn all these things. One thing I have learned already is that facebook taking up too much of someone's time is not the issue. If you delete facebook you will fill that time with something else. I love facebook. It has been effective for me in both ministry, relationships, friends etc. I'm the best man in someone's wedding that reconnected with me on FB. Love that! I just want to learn. I have no agenda whatsoever, which is why I love the points you just made: very useful for what I am trying to achieve. Lets get coffee and talk more about this ;) Thanks for your input. Hope this helps you to understand.
-Sean
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