I disliked Facebook from the very beginning. Resisted it at first. Refused to open an account. But everybody was using it, so I figured I had to see what it is. To do that required an account. As soon as I opened one, I decided Facebook wasn’t for me. I tried to close the account but couldn’t figure out how. So I let it sit unused. That was years ago. Then my staff of thousands told me I should exploit it for blog traffic. I gave in and began posting there. Not often, but often enough to become a Facebook lemming. I won’t be posting on Facebook again. Charley Plymell has a great name for the site: Facebutt.
Overall for me, the Internet’s openness has done more to oppose human failings than support them. At least so far. Will the longer term trend toward the rise of ignorance? Has Facebook changed the nature of discourse on the Internet? I think it has, and not for the better.
A few greedy wiseasses program machines to program the multitudes. The multitudes fall for it and think it makes their lives wonderful.
Richard E. Aaronsays
Ditto…same experience, I think I was able to get off the cringeworthy place. Death enters on swift wings to those who remain there….a field of entropic delusion feeding upon itself.
I rapidly discovered that I had signed up to be subject to the capricious whims and whiles of those running a gigantic panopticon.
At the moment of this discovery, I headed for an exit, found it, and never returned.
And how about this “social media” appellation?
While these locations on the digital continent are places of “gatherings,” they are not the gatherings of groups of people. Gatherings of various types, kinds and forms of information are presented.
Ergo, these locations on the digital continent are anti-social media.
When I visit my neighbourhood coffee/tea house, smile at the owners and wave to the regulars, I am in a SOCIAL situation.
And, there is ‘media’ present – spoken words-conversations, newspapers, pictures on walls, perhaps some music, etc.
“It has taken me a long time to take stupidity and indifference for granted as a universal an irremediable condition.”
~ Marshall McLuhan (1948)
Keithsays
Agree with all. Here’s what Schopenhauer said about it. “Whoever writes for fools always finds a large public.”
And now for the frightening part. There are 7.5 billion people on earth. As of last June, Facebook has 2 billion users. That’s right — a quarter of the freaking planet.
Overall for me, the Internet’s openness has done more to oppose human failings than support them. At least so far. Will the longer term trend toward the rise of ignorance? Has Facebook changed the nature of discourse on the Internet? I think it has, and not for the better.
Fully agree.
A few greedy wiseasses program machines to program the multitudes. The multitudes fall for it and think it makes their lives wonderful.
Ditto…same experience, I think I was able to get off the cringeworthy place. Death enters on swift wings to those who remain there….a field of entropic delusion feeding upon itself.
A few years ago, I did make contact with FB.
I rapidly discovered that I had signed up to be subject to the capricious whims and whiles of those running a gigantic panopticon.
At the moment of this discovery, I headed for an exit, found it, and never returned.
And how about this “social media” appellation?
While these locations on the digital continent are places of “gatherings,” they are not the gatherings of groups of people. Gatherings of various types, kinds and forms of information are presented.
Ergo, these locations on the digital continent are anti-social media.
When I visit my neighbourhood coffee/tea house, smile at the owners and wave to the regulars, I am in a SOCIAL situation.
And, there is ‘media’ present – spoken words-conversations, newspapers, pictures on walls, perhaps some music, etc.
“It has taken me a long time to take stupidity and indifference for granted as a universal an irremediable condition.”
~ Marshall McLuhan (1948)
Agree with all. Here’s what Schopenhauer said about it. “Whoever writes for fools always finds a large public.”
And now for the frightening part. There are 7.5 billion people on earth. As of last June, Facebook has 2 billion users. That’s right — a quarter of the freaking planet.