17.8.08

Why I hate Facebook

FB wouldn’t exist if there weren’t white collar workers; I mean, without all those people that spend 10 hours a day on average in front of a computer, connected to a network. Hence, this is a fundamental reason why I hate FB: social awareness. People that don’t have an office work and don’t wear suit as a uniform don’t usually understand what the hell FB is for.

 

One of the arguments FB lovers sword is that it helps you keeping in touch with your friends. It is, indeed, a complement for that typical lack of human contact of modern urban societies. Fulfills a lack of social skills by turning you into a social sniper. Keeps your conscience calm after isolating from everyone around with your iPod tunes in the real life. Makes you feel that you have a shit lot of “real” friends for the first time in your life; one more step in the de-humanization of the world, another brick in the wall of special effects, more Disney stuff, another virtual place where to find un-authentic people to match with your un-authentic self; one more step in the lack of human contact between human beings; a patch in a crippled society that encourages individualism and selfishness.

 

It was pathetic seeing people at music festivals last summer just worried whether they find or not the people they’re meeting there via FB, and what they’ll look like in reality, and forgetting the true spirit of a festival: sharing a space, a passion for music, a will for changing society...

 

FB helps you find your links with other people from your past, people you haven’t seen for years. Well, there are plenty more ways to do it. And maybe the natural thing to do is meeting new people and, maybe this way, find your links and affinities with actual and lost friends, not just unburying mummy friendships the only thing you have in common with now is... that you’ve joined FB.

 

People used to be very weary about giving their real name in Internet, having a photo of themselves in the web... and suddenly everyone is keen on people uploading embarrassing and shameful photos of you, in company of people you’d better forget and be forgotten by, and with your real names tagged to.

 

Then there you find all those gadgets and silly games, as if that was a kindergarten or a baby playground, with which people seem to have fun; baits for simple minds; never challenging nor requiring a bit of imagination or creativity. All sorts of buttons and bright colors and internet applications and cheesy stuff, all politically correct and, of course, “very cool”.

 

The person who invented FB was a very clever mercenary for the big corporations: if your employees are bound to waste time at the office, at least they won’t waste their brains(?); give them some silly entertainment to keep them busy with silly and blunt stuff. They then won’t care about browsing for information or trying to think original and independently.

 

The sensation when opening FB is about the same when entering a Starbucks coffee-shop. There you find all those fancy names and varieties, that created illusion of  chill-out place, aiming to simple minds with aspirations of greatness and authenticity. You really jump from one dumb place to another in your spare time at the office.

 

 

1 comentario:

manolai dijo...

I am in FB because I was invited by several friends and so i did. then, I keep going and, apart from some photos sometimes, or a message from someone, i never find anything really personal from anyone, something worth spending time on. and then, of course, you cannot criticize something without trying it first... in fact, i think like this after being disappointed by it and seeing what people use it for (i.e. Benicassim, where English people met there as if that was Camden)

I like internet stories and I have myself some to tell. That is what FB was meant for, i think: unique and lovely people like nomads in the web find each other... but it soon became a mass product and another tool for standardizing people. that's what brit culture is about, and i hate it. it is hard to escape to it sometimes.

i didn't attempt to compare FB with Myspace, thing FB supporters do all the time, but it is an interesting comparison. At least you can visit my Myspace profile, read my blog and see the stuff I, MYSELF, have written, translated, created, designed, chosen. In Myspace you find the music my friends do and you find useful info about the bands I like. because Myspace is about creation, music and friends.

and i didn't like FB people tagging a photo of me without my permission. after a couple of times asking someone to remove it, it became clear it was a lost battle. do you know employers (in the UK) search internet for informal info about you? now anyone can see what you do, who with, and what you look like when you are yourself! there's no privacy any more! everyone has a camera phone nowadays... it is not that i am very fussy about it; i am quite open, i show myself everywhere... but I do it, not anyone i don't know!

and then people in Britain, so fussy about ID cards, giving personal info or where they live... then they stupidly show themselves in their clowniest way.

I just can't believe it!!