4 ms·

Part of the problem is that we write facebook content as "public" content (i.e. the press release version of our lives) but we tend to process it as "personal"

Part of the problem is that we write facebook content as "public" content (i.e. the press release version of our lives) but we tend to process it as "personal" updates that substitute for actually catching up with someone on the phone or in person. So whereas if you were chatting 1:1 with a good friend, they'd be just as likely to gripe about problems as brag about what's great, they're not going to do that to 500 of their closest "friends". And it skews our view of the world since we are now getting only positive info in a channel that used to provide a more realistic ratio of good to bad.

gasull 16y ago
Part of the problem is that we write facebook content as "public" content (i.e. the press release version of our lives) but we tend to process it as "personal" updates that substitute for actually catching up with someone on the phone or in person. Spot on. That's why I don't use Facebook lately, although I wasn't able to verbalize the reason so well. I feel like I'm reading PRs from my friends, and I feel like I'm compelled to write my own PR, what is time-consuming. People used to buy expensive clothes or cars to show off. Now they show off in Facebook, posting the pictures of their amazing vacations. I used to love Facebook when I had less than 50 friends in it. As my number of "friends" grew, everybody's content became more and more like press releases. It didn't happen overnight. It was a slow transformation.