Last week we entered a discussion about Facebook and how people falsely represent themselves or that they create a kind of fake-friendship web for users.
I've been researching correlations between the use of Facebook and the increasing statistical findings on loneliness (and the health issues that come with that) for a different class, and I was really bothered by how everyone in the class was discussing their utilization of Facebook.
Studies have shown that Facebook, while it was meant to keep us connected to others, has actually made us distance ourselves from the rest of the world. We get too wrapped up in the idea of some kind of self-promotion that we isolate ourselves and lose physical interaction with people, with those SAME people that are constantly contacted. It affects our health, can lead to depression, and deprivation of self-esteem and humanity. This leads into multiple and various affects of the over-use of social networking, but I'll stick to what I really want to say.
Facebook should never be used as a hobby. I feel like people have started using it as a kind of game, almost. Like, the more friends you have and the better representation you publish of yourself, the more socially acceptable points that you earn. It's just a shame.
As I stated in class, I used to be addicted to Facebook like so many in class voiced that they currently are. That they hate Facebook and yet they continue to use it. They hate a lot of the people that they're "friends" with. They can't stand people that use Facebook as a diary. They don't care about the party that so-and-so was at this past weekend. I used to be "friends" with a lot of people I wasn't actually friends with. I used to obsess over what they were doing with their lives and comparing mine to theirs.
I hated the way that my Facebook made me feel. I wanted to delete it. And then, I decided that I would look into why it makes me feel bad about myself and what was the problem. I discovered that being "friends" with people who weren't actually my friends made me feel alone. Looking at photos of other people and how different they look in appearance made me feel ugly. Seeing the constant changing events and happenings in others calendars made me feel like a hermit. Never getting comments on my wall or "Likes" on my photos made me feel irrelevant.
So I changed everything.
I deleted everyone I wasn't really friends with. I separated myself from the opportunity to look at these people and judge their lives as well as prevent them from judging mine. I stayed friends with only necessary contacts, family, and my close friends. I deleted over 500 photos. I cleared out my interests and information, clearing my self-presenting guilt.
I only check Facebook a couple times a day. I message with family and professional contacts. I use it to save and share pictures of my close friends. And that's... about it. I broke my overuse of it.
Whatever, I'm not trying to say that I'm better than everyone else because I found out how to make Facebook work for me. All I'm trying to relay here is that I really hope that everyone steps back and takes a different approach to it and other social networking. Don't take things too seriously. Focus on what's really important instead of on Facebook and the social presentation of yourself. Find out how to make Facebook support what is really important for you rather than deterring your perspective of priorities.
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