Facebook

I was just thinking of what to write as my next post while I was on Facebook. Then I realised, hey, why don't I write one about Facebook and technology. I'm not completely obsessed with technology, although I am on the internet quite often. But my excuse is that I have holidays, 3 months worth of them, being in university and all. I'm no computer expert either. Nevertheless, I would die without the internet. Once I couldn't sit still and was going insane when the power went out for a couple of hours. My point is that we can't live without it in this day and age. Question though, is it becoming detrimental to us, to our social lives, and forever changing the way we interact with people? I think so. For example, pretend there's a person Bee. Bee has a group of friends, and they don't invite her to an event. Bee sees her friends partying and having fun without her on Facebook. She feels betrayed. What is wrong with me? Don't they like me anymore? would be some of the questions going through her mind. It may seem exaggerated, but I bet heaps of people have experienced this. Including me. So, as I was on Facebook today sipping chardonnay, seeing tagged pictures, with them all dressed up, with statuses to match, made me sad. It made me sad because I felt like I'm wasting my youth, wasting my summer, all because I don't have many REAL friends. It's horrible to know that there are young girls and boys out there that are feeling alone and isolated, or are being cyber-bullied. You might have heard of recent cyber-bullying incidents where teenagers have taken their own lives. The success of Facebook shouldn't come at the expense of young lives. One person's life is precious, and I think young people are being drawn into too much technology too soon. We should be outdoors every so often in the fresh air, instead of in front of a computer all the time. If anything, technology should be bringing us closer together, not tearing us apart and detaching from people. In many, not all, situations this is the case. Facebook is great if you're already confident and social, but not so much if you're sensitive to others comments. Should your worth be measured on how many Facebook friends you have? Whether you go out partying every weekend? Or updating enthralling statuses every day? No. There are some fantastic advances in technology that are adding positively to our lives, but it doesn't help if they're supporting this mentality of available 24/7. So this is the action I'm going to take: I'm not going on Facebook for a whole week; this is my pledge to you. I will instead do things that I otherwise forget or don't have the time for, such as drawing and reading. That reminds me I should write a blog in the future on the best books, but I've got to read a couple first. See you in the next blog.