I remember when Facebook first came out, it was a feeding frenzy, social networking style. I realised even back then that facebook was like a best friend, knows everything about you and can use that information against you. Alright I'll admit that was a little dramatic, but you get my point. As time went by I thought the novelty of Facebook would wear off but it didn't, in fact, it turned some of my very good friends into what I call, Faddicts. Facebook addicts.
I started seeing some disturbing traits in my Faddicts. If someone declined to be your friend, it would result in a war of words, if someone posted a random status line, friends would call friends almost immediately to gossip about what it possibly could mean. I had one friend that had about 400 friends and she only knew a quarter of them personally but she considered them her real friends because they were facebook friends. Then of course, there were the 'cry for help' facebookers, people who would post suicidal messages as their status line and before you knew it the facebook world was rallying to gather around this poor facebook soul and help out. I started wondering if facebook was a friend or a well disguised foe? It also became clear to me that Facebook essentially appeals to the voyerusitic side in all of us. I think we inherently all love to snoop and know what's going on where and with whom.
I deactivated my account a while ago and continued on living my life as normal, interacting with other people on a face to face level. Chatting, laughing and not at a computer screen. But it wasn't long before I reactivated it and rejoined the masses of Facebook junkies in their perfect world of friends, applications and groups. Like any drug, it's used as an escape, it's easier to be someone else on a website than who we really are in life.
The reason I decided to blog about this today is because as I was sifting through the news I came across an article about Sir John Sawers, the new head of M16. Nothing says prestige like M16, it's a James Bond fantasy come to life but that's in jeopardy now because his wife, who happens to be a faddict, posted pictures and intimate details about their family and friends on the social networking site, comprising his cover in his new position. So he's on the shelf for reevaluation, the facebook foe strikes again.
I'm sure that Facebook has many pro's but do they outweigh the cons? That's the question folks. I think not, but what I do know for sure is that Facebook is here to stay and truth be told that worries me a little.
