Facebook – Good or Evil?
I’ve always been a techie type person, not necessarily the first to have the new technology, but soon to follow. I entered the world of personal computing in 1983 and haven’t looked back.
For several years I even served as technology coordinator of a small school district. I enjoyed it very much, but I always felt sorry for the older educators who struggled to learn all the new stuff that was thrown at them. Now, as a retired educator I must confess that I, too, am reluctant to learn new software unless I REALLY need to. With constant software upgrades these days, one must keep up or quickly get left behind.
When the social networking phenomenon began I was neither impressed nor eager to get on board. I was very content with email and had little desire to venture in the unknown world of MySpace, Facebook, or whatever else was out there. Resistance was pretty easy until a friend of mine insisted I sign up. She was a young whippersnapper in her mid-40’s and was very fluent in Facebook. With her help I got started, not sure if I was happy about this or not. That was over two years ago, and it has been – and continues to be – an interesting experience.
The main point of Facebook as I see it is connecting with others, many of whom you may not have seen or thought of in decades. This can be pretty amazing – or not. Remember the Kevin Bacon game, Six Degrees of Separation? Facebook is kind of like that. Starting with your email contact list, Facebook can connect you to many of your current friends, who may connect you to another group of acquaintances who might link you to yet another circle of forgotten friends. So far I have befriended or been befriended by former students from my first three teaching jobs, some from more than 30 years ago, high school classmates, relatives far away, as well as other friends from the past.
Many of these connections have been rewarding, some not so much. It is humbling to see that a former student has been promoted to Lt. Col., then have that same student send you a Facebook message thanking you for your patience with his rowdy sophomore math class. It is less inspiring to see what used to be mere children posting pictures of their grand kids.
I feel the main redeeming feature of Facebook is the power to choose. I have had some FB friends who posted offensive material, or excessively mindless drivel. No problem. If you know where to click on the magic “X,” you can choose to “Hide all by A**hole” and never see those posts again. This is especially helpful when you get so many friends you can’t keep up with all the postings. Cut back to the people you actually care about and life is manageable again. The same is true if your friends are playing games you don’t. Many of the Facebook games automatically post all activity – until you choose to “Hide all by Sillygame.”
Speaking of games, I did get into Farmville in the early days. It was engaging and entertaining up to a point. You built a virtual farm and planted crops that actually matured and had to be harvested within a certain time frame. It became a burden, because if you failed to attend to your crops in a timely manner, you not only lost your potential profit but also had to plow up all those dead fields and start over. It also got a little creepy because you could help each other out by harvesting for them, and sometimes strangers would show up on your farm “looking for work.” I finally gave up the farm. I guess I’m a city boy. I have no problem with the games others play on Facebook. I’m just glad I don’t have to keep up with them or hear about them all the time.
Postings typically include personal updates, concerns, political diatribes (supposedly not allowed, but…), shared articles and videos, and personal photos. My family has used the picture-sharing feature several times. I try to limit the things I share. Some don’t. Some people never post. They just read other’s posts. That’s okay, too.
One annoying aspect of Facebook is when people urge you to copy and share their post in order to show the world that you are patriotic, Christian, proud Texan, proud Southerner, proud old person (survivor of the good old days), etc. Some of the causes are worthy, but I have a very negative reaction to this type of coercion. Again, I can choose not to.
I heard an amusing reference to Facebook on one of my TV sitcoms. A young man was on his computer when his significant other enters the room and says, “You need to get an account on BuddyBook!” Then she adds, “It’s really cool! It’s like Facebook used to be before the old people got to it.”
Yes, the old people – many of us – do Facebook now. A recent popular activity on Facebook today is groups of people sharing memories of their hometowns. My best friend from high school is still a Facebook holdout, but his wife is a believer. When I shared something from the “Remember in Andrews when…” site, he decided to ask his wife to show him how to get to that page.
I still have no desire to do the Twitter thing, but overall my experience with Facebook has been much more positive than I ever imagined it would be. It can consume large amounts of time if you let it, but then life is full of choices. Facebook becomes what you make of it. Good or evil? You decide.
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