BASNW Reaction
As american culture continues down the path of distancing itself from ecological conscientiousness, on the front lines stand companies such as Facebook. Where at the core Facebook aims to create a global connection between people but inadvertently creates distance. “Facebook denies us a pleasure whose profundity we had underestimated: the chance to forget about ourselves for a while, the chance to disconnect.” Stephen Marche, author of Is Facebook Making us Lonely?, concludes his article with this gripping statement. Marche revels to his audience that Facebook creates a distancing from personal reflection, rather than creating a deeper understanding for oneself.
Facebook truly does distance a person from their true identity. In this we tend to update our lives constantly through this social media outlet, often times compromising its genuineness and solitude. Marche suggests “by mixing our appetite for isolation with our vanity”, we are essentially eliminating any privacy from our lives. Think about it, how do you want people to interpret your life? The desire of constant appreciation and glamour leads us away from our truth.
Marche goes on to describe how “instant and absolute communication” has lead us to “suffer from unprecedented alienation”. The irony in this truth seems as though the more we develop and grow in the field of communication, the less connected we become. Maybe we need to realize that in some cases less really is more and that limiting some forms of communication may be for the better.
Considering myself a scientist, I find it hard to believe that I am saying limitations could be a better option. Personally I have no issue seeing my tax dollars going to scientific development but maybe advancement should have it limits, for at least a moment. This quest for connection is leading towards disconnectedness. Where endless information lies at our fingertips but you haven’t visited your grandma since Christmas because she learned how to text.
Although social media outlets serve as a scapegoat to many of these disconnection realities, the fault lies in hands of the user not the creator. Zuckerberg, among others, is truly aiming to make positive impact on our world. Zuckerberg isn’t holding anyone hostage and forcing the use of Facebook. It is important to understand that you get a choice to participate in new wave of instant connection.
The nature of our country is to finger point when faced with certain issues. In most cases we look to government to solve our issues but the use of Facebook is a personal issue. Your loneliness is in correlation with your loneliness outside of Facebook , it is not caused by Facebook. Marche explains this idea in his article when he wrote “The people who experience loneliness on Facebook are lonely away from Facebook, too, she points out; on Facebook, as everywhere else, correlation is not causation”. Sometimes we need to handle the problems we are faced with through our own resolution.
(Reaction on Stephen Marche’s Is Facebook Making us Lonely? http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/308930/)
great title, Nick, and some subtle insights, such as “Marche revels to his audience that Facebook creates a distancing from personal reflection, rather than creating a deeper understanding for oneself.” You’re right to point to what we give up by engaging so much online.
Seems important to note that Marche focuses on HOW we use Facebook–some ways of using it can create greater connection and less loneliness.
I would totally agree with your point Joe.
A lot of good points regarding Marche’s article. I agree that Facebook is causing people to lose their identity and to fabricate what’s actually happening in their life. But at the same time you cannot say that Facebook is causing loneliness, but it could be enhancing it.