Giving Facebook A Try

OF THE SEVERAL ESSAYS this website has published on the topic of "FACEBOOK", none have been especially flattering. They have emphasized the monetizing and commodification of personal information, and other various questionable practices the corporation engages in. But, facts are facts, it is what it is, as everyone is fond of saying; there is, in the end, no way around Facebook. Facebook is omnipresent, Facebook is the answer, evidently, Facebook, in a word, is king, or queen, for the sake of gender equality. so I signed up and got started. My first few friends were people whose intellects and post I respected, and I responded to what they had to say. My comments about their comments and posts tended to get "liked", which flattered me, and created within me a sense of wanting to further participate, a sense of belonging, a sense of being ass kickingly "cool". So, I proceeded to add friends and post stuff my own self. No original posts at first, merely a bit of sharing of material I thought socially relevant, kitten cute, or profound. Again, the likes. A few people began to ask for my friendship, to which i graciously acceded, except in a few instances when, head up butt, I forgot to click on the appropriate button. I noticed that as my list of friends grew, the list of friends on the right side of my page did not add them on, and to this day, my list only lists the original few, and not the later arrivals. I'm sure, that with the help of a teenager or two, I can push the right button, and complete the friendly update. It begins to seem to me that Facebook has its uses, for exchanging info and photos with people you ave known long, and wish to remain in contact with, without the odious burden of paper, pen, and stamp, or telephonic talking at the same time syndrome. And yet, there is a certain feeling of unfulfillment stemming from the fact that almost all communication on the platform consists on sound bytes, or, if you will "word bytes", quick, simple responses, not thorough, complete, insightful commentary and conversation. The verdict here is that Facebook has value, and should be utilized, but that one out not think of it as a replacement for other, better forms of communication, and one should keep on hand paper, pen, stamps, email, phones, both land and smar,t and above all, the ever present iconic cup of coffee for those increasingly rare but increasing valuable face to face interfaces.