My friend has decided to give up Facebook for lent. She cant give up Mxit, or Twitter, cos she doesnt use it, but she has given up Facebook. On the first day she gave up, she told me that she "feels lost without it" and that she has "lost the reason to get up in the morning." I felt at this stage that she was being a bit dramatic, but then I realised that I certainly wouldnt be able to give it up. I've chosen easy things, like chocolate, chips and any cool drinks that arent 'zero' - things that will essentially benefit me health-wise. But Facebook?
It was then that I realised how attached I am to social networking. My cell phone, as many of my friends have mentioned, is like a permanent fixture to my hand. And while it is permanently attached, I am constantly checking Facebook, Twitter, email or going on Mxit. For me, giving up Facebook for lent would be like giving up friends for 40 days and 40 nights... ie, impossible!
But at the same time I find myself wondering how and why has it come to this? I have found myself recently longing for the days when you phoned those you wanted to speak to, and didnt phone those you didnt. None of this accepting friend requests crap from people you barely know, or said 2 words to you at school. None of this going on Mxit but putting your status as "busy" so that you can avoid so and so. You could successfully avoid people without coming across as rude. Yet, I'm still, one could say, hooked on Facebook.
Gone are the days where you phoned or even more recently, smsd a friend to RSVP to a party. These days, everybody gets invited to everybodys party, in every part of the world. And yeah, they ask you to RSVP, but a large number of people (myself included) reply 'Maybe.' How rude? Maybe I'll come to your 21st Party (Yes, people use Facebook to invite guests to their 21st), but maybe I wont, because something better might come up. Then there's the issue of secrecy. Even when trying your hardest to avoid hurting somebody's feelings cos u havent invited them, the next thing, on everybody's News Feed, pops up "Christine Skead and 17 of your friends are attending 'I'm back, one night only' hosted by Joe Soap."
And then BAM, you realise you're not invited. So then what? Do you speak to Joe Soap personally, of course not, you update your status... "Gertrude cant believe this. Do I mean nothing to you?" Which then opens up a whole new can of worms, because after 15 minutes you have 6 comments from various people asking things like "why the anger?" or "what happened?" or some of my favourites (from ppl who dont understand the difference between comments and wall post), "hey how are you? Still living in PMB?" and so the story goes. Do these people really care? Would they phone you up and check on you? Probably not. They're the same as all of us, curious and looking for gossip.
As I type this, wondering why people like Facebook so much, without even thinking, I decide to update my status and ask them... "Claire Maher is writing her blog, and wants to know why people like/dislike Facebook? Please gimme feedback peeps :)" I cannot even successfully answer my own question. Because while I am somewhat infuriated and frustrated with the fact that technology has in fact (let's be serious) taken over the world, I still find myself unable to give it up.
Within our friendship circle we dont go a day or event (regardless of length) without discussing Facebook. Whether it's who broke up with who, or "did you see her status??" or "OMG, Mark deleted me off Facebook, ass" or "why didnt you reply to my 17th wall post?" our conversations always involve Facebook. It's inevitable. What the heck did we speak about before? How did we find out that so and so broke up with so and so, or how did we know that our friends were upset, or angry, or going to the mall to buy shoes? How on earth did we air our dirty laundry, or advertise the elation we felt when being given roses on Valentines day.
We didnt always, and we survived... Why cant we now?
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so so very true...and we cant seem to survive now because its become 'the norm' and we dont want the hassle of having to ACTUALLY contacting people and as u say finding out how they are...however, what it makes u realise is that with the special few u do and its those people at the end of the day that matter the most. never forget the bridge between us is a rainbow;)
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