Tuesday, August 29, 2017

FACEBOOK

Can't decide if facebooking is an addiction, an affliction, an inspiration or an irritation, distraction or destruction, indispensable or irrelevant, here today or gone tomorrow?

Those of you who have resisted Facebook won't know what I mean, those who are on it will understand.


2 comments:

Copeland said...

I know what you mean about Facebook, Natalie. I can only take it once or twice a week, and don't stay very long, Too much of it only makes me want to withdraw into reclusion; although I want to keep in touch and catch up with the daily life of people I know. The worst part of it is the "friending" of unknown people, that is encouraged. I'm beginning to sound like W.C. Fields. But that's what Facebook can do to a person who gets too much of it. It's become crowded with ads, and with videos that start playing automatically. Julian Assange has warned everyone against using this service, as it collects whole networks of relationships, for all the gray bureaucrats and G-men who crawl around in the dark cubbyholes of the surveillance state.

You suggested the word, addiction; and it seems like an addiction, sometimes. I read somewhere that you can't really delete your Facebook account, either. There's a delete button you can press; but I believe there's a message window that comes up, telling you that you can come back any time; and it will be like you never left. Your place in the network is indelible. Your information stays put. No worries.

Natalie d'Arbeloff said...

Hi Copeland, glad to see you, thanks for stopping by. Hope all is well with you.

The addictive aspect of FB is of course what makes it such a success. To some degree I suppose we all want to be part of a community, exchange ideas, share knowledge, get to know others and, of course, tell others about ourselves, our work, our lives. So an easily accessible platform, always at our fingertips, becomes hugely attractive. The problem is to have enough discipline not to become dependent on it and waste precious time we could be using more usefully, creatively, relevantly.

The surveillance aspect of FB is indeed a concern, both in terms of privacy and commercial pressure. But I've been on the internet for about 17 years now, with a website, a blog and all sorts of interactions with other people's sites and blogs etc. so I can't complain that my privacy is being invaded because I'm the one who puts myself out there! As far as possible, I refuse all commercial blandishments, don't answer surveys and try to avoid spam, phishing etc. So there we are.