Do you remember when you made your first Facebook account? I'll be honest, it's not the clearest memory I have, but I'm willing to bet that I was as happy as a dog with a new chew toy. Facebook revolutionized the social aspect of our lives. No longer do we have to resort to gossip or talking directly to friends to stay updated on everyone's lives. That knowledge is now just a few clicks away. As Facebook continues to grow, however, this revolution is beginning to hurt many aspects of the average user's life.
Yea, it's much easier to communicate and catch up on Facebook than in real life right? That is what makes it so great right? Both of these points are true, and are responsible for the ever growing phenomenon that is Facebook. Yet, both of these points have changed the relationships we hold with our friends and family. It's obvious that face to face conversations and real time interactions are much more intimate than a Facebook chat or wall post. Although many of us undoubtedly know this, we still make little to no attempts to meet up with each other and share personal time. I mean, honestly, why should we? Facebooking is so much easier and can be done from the comfort of your own home and requires little effort, so social outings with those that you are closest with have ceased to exist.
If you really think about it, Facebook lacks many of the key components of human interaction. Personally, my Facebook chats, wall posts, and inbox messages are much different than how I would react in a real time conversation. They all lack emotional expressions, and instead of being forced to quickly think of a response like in real time, I am able to think about what I want to say, weigh the consequences, and decide upon the best response. This isn't how humans were meant to interact! A Facebook conversation isn't a real conversation; it is an empty shell of a conversation lacking the main aspect that allows attachment to develop between individuals, emotion.
Robin Dunbar wrote an article for the New York Times about the decline of friendships without face to face interaction. You can find the page here, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26dunbar.html?_r=l&nl=todaysheadlines, but essentially Dunbar states that the average human is only capable of maintaining around 150 meaningful relationships, and that our emotional attachment declines with any given person by about 15 percent every year if we don't have face to face contact. The average user has more "friends" than the maximum possibility of 150, which shows that we allow random strangers into our lives (if you don't believe me, look through your friends list and see how many people you know well enough to consider a friend). Also, since Facebook allows us to cut real time interactions with some of our closer acquaintances while still being able to communicate with them, we are under the illusion that these people are still some of our closest friends. This sounds pretty anti-social to me.
Now I'm not saying everyone should go out and delete their Facebook accounts right away, far from it. I support Facebook and what it does for us. What I am saying is that we should not fall prey to the illusion Facebook offers us. It is not the equivalent of real human interaction, but a replacemen. So maybe you should call up that old friend sometime, go out to lunch or just simply meet up to spend some time with them. If not, who knows, you just might lose their friendship.
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