As new websites and technology become popular the modern man is more connected and subsequently disconnected than ever. Our digital lives are beginning to encroach on our real lives, siphoning away free time and trapping users within the friendly confines of cyberspace. As more and more of our time is spent on Facebook and other forms of social media we should, at least in theory, be more connected than ever. But the inverse would be more accurate, instead of connecting we are isolating as the standard for what passes as communication becomes broader.
With the majority of our new communication coming in the form of statuses and tweets, we have to limit our speech to fit 140 characters. This works perfectly when the subject of our message is going to the mall or what cute thing your cat is doing. But, when we need to convey more complex messages we are at a total loss. When we only have to produce simple ideas we lose the ability to craft complex ones. The subject of our communication has changed from what people are thinking to what people are doing.
Thoughts are no longer a prerequisite for communication, as long as you are doing something you can communicate.
Facebook promises its users the ability to create their own page, unique to their taste and digression. However, look at any number of Facebook pages and they most likely share more similarities than differences. Aside from the uniform template used throughout the site even user’s individual content is very similar. Females all take the same picture of their faces scrunched up in attempt to look cute while guys pose in hyper masculine stances. Facebook may give the illusion of individuality but underneath the surface lies the unmistakable stench of conformity.
In an effort to streamline the web we have traded individuality for convince. Facebook beat out MySpace as the dominate social media website for the sole reason it was more convenient. MySpace pages were highly customizable and two pages rarely looked similar, users could change their page’s layout, background, and even embed music. This customization came at a price, MySpace was notoriously difficult for new users to grasp and slow speeds ruined the burgeoning social media enterprise.
Facebook realized the strength of MySpace was also its greatest weakness. Customization was a nice feature but it took away from the primary focus of social media. Users wanted to connect with friends and family, not make a statement about their individuality. Facebook rose to the dominate social media website by removing these features and replacing them with the convenience a uniform template offers.
It remains to be seen if the lose of individuality will lead to a modern dystopia akin to ‘1984’. Users may see the conformity as a requirement of the Internet age, a necessary evil for the connivance of social media. As technology progresses further into the future we may see a return to customization. Social media is still a relatively new concept; uniformity may give way to customization in Facebook’s inevitable redesigns. But as of now it appears users have given up their rights as an individual for the right to be part of the group.
Jonathan Bree
ReplyDeleteI believe that websites and technology have been both beneficial and distracting to the modern man. On a positive note, technology allows us to communicate instantly no matter the distance. In addiion, we now have the ability to send documents and even make a bank deposit from the seat at your computer. On the other hand, I believe that technology has also caused much distraction to the modern man as our school work and professional work is effected as we are constantly surfing the web. I believe that the web and facebook are adding to individuality, not taking away from it.
I will totally agree with John here. There are so many advantages and disadvantages technology has. In particular with the internet i know whenever i sit down to do work on my computer at least half the time i spend doing the work is spend randomly browsing facebook or other sites. Technology has done wonders for people in the world and when i say technology i mean more then the internet. Technology has allowed to expand our knowledge in the medical field and other fields. Technology is far from a bad thing but i think that we as a nation and as a people should not be too dependent on technology
ReplyDeleteI agree with the argument that we may think we are keeping in touch with others by being on Facebook, but we could be growing further apart. I can see what friends and family are doing over Facebook, but I do not really know whats going on in their lives or their emotions. Facebook is sometimes like watch characters lives on a TV show. We can see whats going on, but will not connect on a personal basis. It is important to really communicate with others not just see what they are doing on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteI found your posting very interesting, Kyle. You brought up some great points that never had occurred to me before actually. I loved the point in which you stated that our ideas over time have become relatively simpler due to the fact that we are limited to 140 characters on twitter. I never actually thought about the fact that social networking sites which only allow you post a certain number of characters can actually be surpessing people's creativity and ideas. It is a phenomenon that just developed and not really noticed. However, I don't agree with the fact that people's facebook profiles all look alike. It seems stereotypical to make a general statement like that.
ReplyDeleteEric Troiano
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with the comment you made about our ideas becoming simpler due to Twitter restricting our comments to 140 characters. I think the restriction on character length forces us to make each of the characters we use to post count more. It makes people who post use less verbose language and get right to the point or the punchline.
From the facebook perspective, I think people's profiles do have similar layouts. But its what they do with the layout and the content they add make which make it a unique destination.