I've been sucked into facebook...
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Or perhaps I should say the facebook cult? At any rate it has recently exploded all across North America and people I know here in Calgary are along for the ride. I resisted for a while, but eventually numerous emails from friends trying to add me to their "friend" list got the better of me and I set up a small profile. This is not the first time this has happened though.
I remember back in highschool I had several pen pals. We hand wrote our letters and tossed them in the post box to find their way across the country and the world. Gradually over time some pen pals fade away - their letters come further and further apart. Other pen pals stopped writing letters altogether and instead sent me postcards with their e-mail adress on the back. "E-mail me!" And so our communications moved to the electronic medium. I will admit the convenience and speed of receiving these new letters added a whole new level to the pen pal relationship, as well as opening the door to a few more pen pals. However even e-mail would fall by the wayside as online chatting began to take over. Programs like ICQ and Messenger became the way to keep in touch. Once you worked out your relative time zones you could have a real time conversation with people in other parts of the world without the expensive long distance bill. I still use that method to keep in touch with a few people. Instant messaging was also the norm for commumicating with many friends close by and for a few that is still true. But now chatting has been supplanted by MySpace and Facebook. The thing is, our comunications have been changed as well, primarily getting shorter.
Are we really still "in touch" or "involved" with our friends despite only exchanging a few sentances? My friends and I wrote letters that went on for pages. In chatting I could have a whole conversation touching upon various facets of our lives. In facebook it depends upon whether the other person is online at the time and whether you are checking your profile for replies. A short single subject conversation can take a week. It is still my experience that we communicate much more in person or even over the telephone. We add in nuances of tone, volumne and body language that smileys can not reach.
I am not saying that Facebook is bad, or that it does not have it's place. There are a few things that facebook does well - like organizing events or providing a means to re-aquaint yourself with old friends / co-workers. I am just not convinced it is the best option for our primary means of communication.
What do you think?
I remember back in highschool I had several pen pals. We hand wrote our letters and tossed them in the post box to find their way across the country and the world. Gradually over time some pen pals fade away - their letters come further and further apart. Other pen pals stopped writing letters altogether and instead sent me postcards with their e-mail adress on the back. "E-mail me!" And so our communications moved to the electronic medium. I will admit the convenience and speed of receiving these new letters added a whole new level to the pen pal relationship, as well as opening the door to a few more pen pals. However even e-mail would fall by the wayside as online chatting began to take over. Programs like ICQ and Messenger became the way to keep in touch. Once you worked out your relative time zones you could have a real time conversation with people in other parts of the world without the expensive long distance bill. I still use that method to keep in touch with a few people. Instant messaging was also the norm for commumicating with many friends close by and for a few that is still true. But now chatting has been supplanted by MySpace and Facebook. The thing is, our comunications have been changed as well, primarily getting shorter.
Are we really still "in touch" or "involved" with our friends despite only exchanging a few sentances? My friends and I wrote letters that went on for pages. In chatting I could have a whole conversation touching upon various facets of our lives. In facebook it depends upon whether the other person is online at the time and whether you are checking your profile for replies. A short single subject conversation can take a week. It is still my experience that we communicate much more in person or even over the telephone. We add in nuances of tone, volumne and body language that smileys can not reach.
I am not saying that Facebook is bad, or that it does not have it's place. There are a few things that facebook does well - like organizing events or providing a means to re-aquaint yourself with old friends / co-workers. I am just not convinced it is the best option for our primary means of communication.
What do you think?
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