In the time that Facebook has been around, it has grown into the largest network in the world connecting more people than any other group. And yet it seems we’re all the more disconnected. What do I mean by that? I think it’s great that we can hop on FB and re-connect with friends from high school, old colleagues, or any other old “connection” that we had. But once we become “friends” again, do we actually believe we’ll talk again? Or is it a simple intention.
I think a lot of times people think that by using Facebook they will be able to be great friends again like in the past, but this isn’t the case. In an attempt to expand our networks and reach out to everyone we’ve ever known (including aunts and grandparents), we end up shallowing all our relationships and losing the deepest ones. The more time you spend on Facebook the less time you spend actually investing. By sending messages to 50 different people a day like “Hey how are you doing? It’s been so long!” you miss out on time with your current (real-life) friends.
Lots of people just spend an hour or so on Facebook a day, right? But think how that extra hour could have been spent with a close friend or spouse (and it’s even sadder when people actually communicate more on Facebook than in real life; that includes your good friends and–heaven forbid–your husband or wife). Of course this may be an “extreme” way of putting it.
If you’re like me then you check your account for about 5 minutes at the end of the day. You maybe look over a friend’s profile, leave a few comments and change your status. No harm no foul, and not a whole lot of time spent. But it’s important to remind yourself: Facebook is meant for low level, shallow conversations and catching up. The minute it starts to substitute real relationship, then that’s the moment you should probably log off forever.
And then go have a real life conversation with that friend you stopped spending as much time with.
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