I have spent, or rather squandered, countless hours pouring over Facebook. And every few months, usually in the midst of a particularly stressful work week in which I solemnly vow to stay focused, I consider removing myself from its vacuum and just going offline. However, in today’s age, deactivating your Facebook is like dropping off the face of the earth. You’re no one if you delete your digital self.
So now that Facebook owns Instagram, which, for those who not technologically addicted enough to keep up with the iPhone App of the week, is essentially Twitter + Picnik, I pose the question: what would it mean for my generation to spend even more time on Facebook?
A few months ago, I was having a conversation with a friend about how I strongly prefer books to E-Readers, and hope that when I am older I still have the option to possess a physical, rather than virtual, copy of whatever text I’m currently reading. He, a strong advocate for the Kindle, told me not to be naive. We’re increasingly moving into digital forms, he argued, and soon all other mediums will be obsolete. I can only hope that isn’t true. Facebook is great for catching up with old friends, seeing hilarious pictures from the weekend, and a myriad of other distractions and diversions. However, that should be all it remains good for. Our virtual selves must remain diversions, brief respites we take from the trials of the real world, rather than our real worlds. Yes, it’s annoying when Facebook changes and you’re forced to convert your “profile” into a format you no longer want nor understand (I’m looking at you timeline. I refuse to ‘update’ until Facebook forces me to). However, the only thing that’s really changing when Facebook changes is your leisure. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. are all significant for their ability to document your life. It’s when they become your life that’s the problem. And as Facebook grows in addictive potential as it incorporates more and more popular digital features into its format, I fear that, for some of my generation, the leap will be complete, and screens will cease to become a barrier between digital and physical reality.
