Posts Tagged quitting Facebook
Got Ideas?
Posted by annaldavis in Cyberculture, Social Media on September 7, 2011
“Mass Idea Abortion Threatens Global Future.” That was my first title for this post. But during revision it seemed a bit dramatic and sensationalistic, like something we might read on the cover of a tabloid, right next to a photo of the three-headed alien in Lady Gaga’s dressing room.
Lady Gaga. Now there’s an original idea, right? We watched her hatch out of an egg, wear slabs of meat, and dress like a man in a temporary gender switch for the MTV Video Music Awards. I don’t know where I’ve seen anyone quite like her… oh, wait. I’m having flashbacks now. Yes… I think I remember something similar about some obscure pop star from the 80’s. Well, nevermind. I guess Lady Gaga isn’t so original after all.
Seriously, where are all the new ideas? Where’s the ingenuity? What happened to thinking outside the box (of commercialism, consumerism, you name it)?
Some say that we live in a “post-idea” world. It’s all been done, and you can read about it from any device with an internet connection. We are drowning in information, like those hoarders featured on A&E. We need help, and cloud-based service providers have a solution. The Cloud is like The Container Store for digital chaos.
But we’re only organizing it, storing it away in a virtual box. There’s no time (or desire) to process that information by actually thinking.
In an article titled “The Elusive Big Idea,” professor and journalist Neal Gabler wrote, “Ideas are too airy, too impractical, too much work for too little reward. Few talk ideas. Everyone talks information, usually personal information. Where are you going? What are you doing? Who are you seeing? These are today’s big questions.”
Gabler goes on to explain that social networking sites play a big role in our mental laziness.
“It is certainly no accident that the post-idea world has sprung up alongside the social networking world. Even though there are sites and blogs dedicated to ideas, the most popular sites on the Web are basically information exchanges, designed to feed the insatiable information hunger, though this is hardly the kind of information that generates ideas,” Gabler said.
I like that wording: “the insatiable information hunger.” Reminds me of the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street. Yum… info. Need info now… CRUNCH. CRUNCH. CRUNCH.
So what’s the big deal anyway? Who cares if we can’t think deeply for ourselves? What difference does it make that our collective minds overflow with the minor details of celebrity gossip and distant friends-of-a-friend-of-a-friend?
If you’re destined to remain the average American consumer, plodding through life from one new product to another, keeping track of the decades via TMZ, just hoping your retirement fund stays intact so you can quit work and watch Glee on a flatscreen, then no problem. But then again…
What if you actually have something original to offer? What if there’s an idea inside of you, something that can change even a corner of our world for the better, an idea whose time has come, ready to be hatched?
Oops, I almost forgot – Lady Gaga already did the hatching thing. Oh well. Guess I’ll just go read more about it online, maybe I’ll chat with my peeps and see what they thought of her latest recent photo shoot (did you hear? She didn’t wear any makeup! None at all! Can you believe it?).
“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.”
(Quote by Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, civil rights advocate, international author / speaker, and ranked in the top ten of Gallup’s List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century.)
Quitting Facebook, One Month Later
Posted by annaldavis in Cyberculture on July 27, 2011
It’s been exactly four weeks since I quit Facebook. I miss reading my friends’ posts. Every now and then something cool will happen, and I’ll consider posting a new status, only to remember that I no longer have a Facebook account. I also sometimes feel out of the loop, because often people use Facebook to plan events or share important information.
But I don’t regret it. I am enjoying my “face-to-face” relationships more, and gaining more from my conversations. For example, someone might say to me: “Did I tell you about what happened the other day?”
Several months ago, I may have replied with: “No, but I saw it on Facebook. So is everyone feeling better?” And the person would have replied, “Yes, so glad that is over!” and then we would have changed the subject to something we hadn’t already covered online. But now, I don’t know everything that has happened to my friends. And so my response is more like, “No, what happened?” Then I get to hear the whole story, more in-depth, with more range of emotion than a few typed symbols can provide.
The Facebook newsfeed leaves out some of the most important parts of the story. It’s like the difference between watching a story on CNN about a hurricane, or talking in person with someone who actually experienced it. With a newsfeed, you get the basic information. The windspeed, the size, the wave height. But in person, you hear the thrill in their voice, the fear, the apprehension, the excitement. You see their hands shake when they recall the harrowing evacuation process. There is something MORE that happens when we connect in person—or even on the phone—something that black letters on a screen cannot convey.
Yes, I miss reading my friends’ posts. I don’t know what’s going on with hundreds of people – or what that one kid from high school ate for breakfast. But it’s been nice to enjoy conversations again, instead of cutting them short because “I heard it on Facebook.”
One month without Facebook? No problem. That’s only the beginning.
Dropping Out (Part 3 of 3)
Posted by annaldavis in Cyberculture on July 13, 2011
My two biggest reasons for quitting Facebook were deeply personal. This one is more of a social commentary, but also personal because I am a parent. Here are the questions I have to ask myself: Could Facebook cause long-term harm to our social habits? Does the good outweigh the bad?
The jury is still out on this one, but it does seem clear that the Internet and social networking sites like Facebook are changing our social structure in ways we don’t fully understand. Our young kids today will feel these effects more than anyone else before them.
Reason #3: I am accountable to my children for my social media choices.
Since my 8-year old has already started campaigning for a cell phone – though we’ve assured her she’ll probably be the last among her friends to get one — I figure the Facebook conversation isn’t too far behind. And I don’t quite know what to tell her.
Facebook is fast-becoming the single most determining factor in a person’s future, especially for teens. That’s because 80% of colleges use Facebook as part of their admissions process. Surveys also show that a huge percentage of employers check out a potential Facebook profile before deciding who to hire. There’s even a company called Social Intelligence Corporation, a “start-up that scours social media and Internet sites for dirt on employees and job applicants.” While this company was under federal investigation for potential rights violation, the government recently dropped the case, signaling a green light for the practice of using social media sites to do background checks and other private research.
As a grown adult, I don’t even know how to effectively handle the power that is Facebook (see my first two posts in this series if you have any question about that). Fortunately, my biggest life decisions are behind me. I already went to college, made a career choice, chose a marriage partner, and decided how much I will compromise for career/status/money. So if I tell my kids that Facebook is fine as long as they handle it wisely, then I really don’t know what I’m talking about. What is wise, in this current era? I’m not sure at the moment.
Obviously inappropriate pics are out of the question. But managing your profile image (and controlling your friend list) to become more attractive for potential mates, colleges, and employers? Judging potential friends on the basis of what they “add” or “take away from” the desired image? That would be technically smart, probably. But not the Christian thing to do. Not the way I want to raise my children, or the qualities I want to foster within myself.
However I certainly can’t tell them why they shouldn’t be on Facebook, if I am active on Facebook. That’s like saying “Son, don’t ever drink beer. Now hand me another cold one.” I have to answer to my kids about social media in one way or another.
And that’s my third (and last) reason for dropping out of Facebook.
Maybe someday I’ll go back, with more wisdom and intentionality. Facebook says I can reactivate my old account at any time, “and start connecting.” Today, though, I’m connecting much better without it.
(Make sure to check out my new page: Quitting Facebook).
