I found this article on AdBusters.org, I thought it was an interesting article because I have contemplated deleting my facebook many times because often I feel like it is a negative thing I waste my time with. But then I start to think about all the contacts and connections I will loose with deleting it.
I also think about Cindy Sherman's ideas about photos and the idea that pointing the camera at someone is a violent action and a form of emotional rape because you don't have the control anymore because the weapon (the camera) isn't in your hands. And people are ALWAYS posting pictures of other people that I'm sure they wouldn't want being exploited on the internet especially on such a wide used "journal" of sorts like Facebook.
Tell me what you think.
http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/80/quit_facebook.html
Here is a snippet from the article -
"I became despondent. What, then, was I? If my time was spent changing my profile picture on Facebook, thinking of a clever status update for Facebook, checking my profile again to see if anyone had commented on my page, Is this what I am? A person who re-visits her own thoughts and images for hours each day? And so what do I amount to? An egotist? A voyeur?
Whatever the label, I was unhappy and feeling empty. The amount of time I spent on Facebook had pushed me into an existential crisis. It wasn’t the time-wasting, per se, that bothered me. It was the nature of the obsession – namely self-obsession. Enough was enough. I left Facebook."
2 comments:
first of all, i don't think being interested in yourself is actually a bad thing. i think a lot of people float around living a very unexamined life. they don't evaluate their state of being, they don't asses their assets/problems, and this doesn't lead to self improvement.
in saying that, no, i don't really think people should hang out on facebook all day so they will become a better person.
i think that facebook has a lot of benifits: contact, communication, expression, community... but it obviously can be a big time waster too. it is important for people to put facebook at a reasonable priority level. like anything, it shouldn't come before things that are more important. does this mean people should ditch it all together? only if they find themselves weak to its alluring call more than they'd like.
I love this topic. Indeed, facebook is a thing that people love and hate, and definitely waste their time on. I think it can be an indicator of narcissism and voyeaurism(though as it turns out, humans (IMO) are narcissistic voyeurs by nature.
I have sometimes imagined a kind of movement in which the cool thing to do would be to delete your facebook account, just disappear. I have certainly had friends that have done that, though not yet en masse.
Let me add too that I thik facebok can make people sad, too. I for one find myself sometimes feeling that way because there are so many people who are my "friends" on there who I will likely never really share anything with or see in person again for the rest of my life. I suppose this is my fault for allowing my friend list to grow indiscriminately, accepting all requests etc. Sometimes it just feels like distance, shallowness, and competition to be the slickest/coolest/wittiest for everyone to see.
Now let me qualify. I also think FB is basically genius. I fundamentally agree with Jenn that it is healthy for people to be interested in themselves, and I am wowed by the communicative and humanistic powers that such connectivity provides. FB has provided me with some blasts from the past that have been truly wonderful. And provides me with endless links of interest if I so choose.
I could go on and on about FB and its social phenomenon and all that it means; it demands an entire book or documentary. and I'm sure there will be one soon enough.
For this class, however, I think the topic of FB could provide some serious fodder for a rich art project of some sort.
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