| A variation of this comment shows up in every FB related post, and it seems completely absurd to me that anyone holds this view seriously. The idea that interacting on Facebook is somehow "keeping up with friends" is itself perhaps the greatest victory of Facebook's own marketing. The idea that 'liking' a picture and leaving a public comment is a sincere human interaction is ridiculous. It's social noise used to replace interpersonal connections and is being pitched that this is somehow better. If FB suddenly disappeared people would likely go back to texting each other images and calling each other more often, in private where they could more openly admit their struggles and non-public views. People would stop pretending that they had more than 30 "friends". Daily likes and emojis would be replaced with actual video calls, less frequent but longer, more intimate conversations. This isn't speculation as it's how everyone I know who isn't active on facebook communicates. When I call my distant friends and family the interactions are entirely different than the public facing, image maintaining, completely non-intimate communication that happens on any "social" media. You're not keeping up with what's happening when you interaction on facebook, because what's really happening is struggles and concerns that you don't necessarily want to share in public with everyone you know. Real human connections involve being vulnerable around someone you trust, which is fundamentally in opposition to the foundations of how something like facebook works. |
Not really, you assume this is to keep up with current friends. Not past co-workers who you're friendly with. People you were friends with when you were 20-years younger. People you went to college with but were only friends and not still talking 10-years later. Basically, people whose phone number you don't have and can't find.