Everyone wants to be famous
- Intro:
- A friend and I discuss, and try to make sense of, the way facebook is changing society. What follows is pretty much the raw instant-message transcript.
- Justin:
- not to dredge up the facebook rant again but i think you will agree with me on this
- Justin:
- this is probably what bothers me the most about the attitude of some people
- Justin:
- it's an article about this book
- Justin:
- about like breaking up and how people deal with it through facebook and such
- Justin:
- but anyway basically in the little story or whatever
- Justin:
- this girl is all upset because her ex boyfriend defriended her
- Justin:
- and she specifically says "I hadn't talked to him in six months, maybe nine months."
- Justin:
- but she's super upset he defriended her
- Justin:
- so much that she like sends him a friend invite and then calls him and such
- Me:
- good god
- Justin:
- this is a quote: As she explained: "That's a big step, you know it's like saying I don't care about you, I don't want updates on your life, I don't want to see you anymore, like, you don't do that, that's like cutting somebody out of your life completely."
- Justin:
- you know what says to me "I don't care about you,"
- Justin:
- is not talking to someone in 6 - 9 months
- Me:
- true, but facebook is blurring that shit
- Justin:
- sort of
- Me:
- for some people
- Justin:
- i dunno i just can't say that someone is my friend or whatever if i never talk to them, but i just see their little self absorbed posts through facebook? i guess i'm just an old man but seriously
- Justin:
- how is that friendship
- Justin:
- friendship is about like... shared experiences and stuff you know?
- Justin:
- like hanging out and such
- Justin:
- it just seems so weird
- Justin:
- she hadn't even talked to the guy in 6 months!
- Justin:
- why would she even care
- Justin:
- unless it's part of the popularity contest you know
- Justin:
- like who has the most 'friends'
- Me:
- right but it's not about friendship
- Me:
- it's about acquaintance
- Me:
- there are always those people that aren't your friends but whom you're 'acquainted' with
- Me:
- see, in real life you don't need to worry about it
- Me:
- right? like you see someone that's in the gray area and you can choose to stop and chat or not, and you're not like seeing all their life events or whatever
- Me:
- but on facebook, we are becoming more acquainted with acquaintances
- Justin:
- ah right i see
- Justin:
- yeah i guess i don't really care about acquaintances
- Justin:
- i just don't have like mind space for that stuff
- Me:
- it's because you're old fashioned
- Me:
- and that's fine
- Me:
- so am I to an extent
- Justin:
- well it's more that i just don't care
- Me:
- but the reality is that the younger generations do care
- Me:
- facebook is as real to them as the hallways of peers were when we were in high school
- Me:
- it's changing the whole social construct
- Justin:
- yeah sort of
- Justin:
- see i look at it a little differently than that
- Justin:
- it really does seem more conceited than you're making it out to be
- Me:
- I just think facebook provides a more accessible channel for conceit-driven interaction to be propagated
- Me:
- people are still the same
- Me:
- they just suffer quietly less frequently
- Justin:
- i actually kind of disagree with that too
- Justin:
- people change
- Justin:
- people have changed significantly i think
- Justin:
- like you said it's the younger generation
- Justin:
- it's a difference in just like... the way we all think
- Me:
- I just think the social arena is changing, but it is changing in response to core human behaviors, behaviors that in the past were limited because there just wasn't an outlet
- Justin:
- yeah totally
- Justin:
- basically in the past people wouldn't be so sensitive about shit because they didn't have a platform
- Justin:
- they just wouldn't care
- Me:
- well, they just had to be more motivated
- Me:
- i.e. politicians...and celebrities
- Me:
- in fact, in a lot of ways we are turning into a society of celebrities thanks to facebook
- Justin:
- yeah exactly
- Justin:
- i was just about to say that too
- Justin:
- we're all celebrities in our little facebook world
- Me:
- yea and I think it fulfills a core human desire to be known, appreciated, understood and sought after
- Me:
- we all want to feel important
- Justin:
- yeah everyone wants to be famous
