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Facebook is real life. You're talking to real people.

by rmc 12y ago

coldtea 12y ago
"Talking to real people" is a very low barrier to qualify "real life". In that sense ham-radio is real life too. As is being confined in your house for decades and communicating with snail mail correspondence.
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  Ham-radio is real life as well and I know a lot of radio amateurs who are very reasonable and intelligent people, and who owe a lot of their skills to their radio hobby. It's this stupid meme in the society that doing "technology" is somehow "less real" or impoverishing in comparison to things like sports or tourism. But why would it be so?
- rhizome 12y ago
  As is being confined in your house for decades and communicating with snail mail correspondence. You mean like Emily Dickinson?
  - coldtea 12y ago
    Yes. Is it OK because she's a famous poet?
nnnnni 12y ago
..........not always. Well, always. But they're not always who they claim to be!
- falcor84 12y ago
  > Well, always. ... Ehm, I guess maybe bots are people, too
jcromartie 12y ago
Facebook is lots of people putting on a charade. I've played, too. You put on a fake persona that is your maximally awesome self. Every like, share, or comment, is done with calculated forethought and with the result in mind. How will people interpret this? Will it project the right image of me? Will my net opinion be increased or decreased among my Facebook friends' by this action? Is it compatible with current and/or future employers? Of course, there are probably people who don't care what other people think about them on Facebook and are just totally open. But I don't know any of those people.
- samnardoni 12y ago
  And people don't do this in "real life" too?
  - jcromartie 12y ago
    Sure they do in certain contexts. But every action on Facebook except for private messages has to be this way because of the nature of the platform. If "real life" encompasses "every human experience" then there are many many opportunities in which you can be honest about yourself, be candid, be true to your own whims and desires, without giving much consideration as to what other people will think about it. Facebook is then a subset of real life where certain types of facades and maneuvering are the rule.
    - rmc 12y ago
      Name away-from-keyboard contexts where people don't do this. It's not a common as you seem to claim.
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  > You put on a fake persona that is your maximally awesome self. Well, that's what you do. Others just write what they think and share what they life, caring only slightly to stay within the cultural norms. Exactly like in real life. There are lots of people who are calculating how they look, what they say, etc. in physical world as well. "How will people interpret this? Will it project the right image of me? Will my net opinion be increased or decreased among my friends' by this action? Is it compatible with current and/or future employers?" are they questions they ask themselves all the time.
TeMPOraL 12y ago
Exactly. Saying that Facebook is not real life is like saying that phones calls, radio and letters are not real life. Looking at the volume of letters they sent, people like Abraham Lincoln must have had absolutely no life.
- rmc 12y ago
  If you think about it, (fiction) books are even less of real life. It's a fictional world invented by someone else, and you get engrossed in a book and don't talk to anyone. But books are old and socially admired, so no-one who complains about Facebook also complains about books.

Facebook is real life. You're talking to real people.

by rmc 12y ago

Facebook is real life. You're talking to real people.

"Talking to real people" is a very low barrier to qualify "real life". In that sense ham-radio is real life too. As is being confined in your house for decades and communicating with snail mail correspondence.

TeMPOraL 12y ago
Ham-radio is real life as well and I know a lot of radio amateurs who are very reasonable and intelligent people, and who owe a lot of their skills to their radio hobby. It's this stupid meme in the society that doing "technology" is somehow "less real" or impoverishing in comparison to things like sports or tourism. But why would it be so?
rhizome 12y ago
As is being confined in your house for decades and communicating with snail mail correspondence. You mean like Emily Dickinson?
- coldtea 12y ago
  Yes. Is it OK because she's a famous poet?

nnnnni 12y ago

..........not always. Well, always. But they're not always who they claim to be!

falcor84 12y ago
> Well, always. ... Ehm, I guess maybe bots are people, too

jcromartie 12y ago

Facebook is lots of people putting on a charade. I've played, too. You put on a fake persona that is your maximally awesome self. Every like, share, or comment, is done with calculated forethought and with the result in mind. How will people interpret this? Will it project the right image of me? Will my net opinion be increased or decreased among my Facebook friends' by this action? Is it compatible with current and/or future employers? Of course, there are probably people who don't care what other people think about them on Facebook and are just totally open. But I don't know any of those people.

samnardoni 12y ago
And people don't do this in "real life" too?
- jcromartie 12y ago
  Sure they do in certain contexts. But every action on Facebook except for private messages has to be this way because of the nature of the platform. If "real life" encompasses "every human experience" then there are many many opportunities in which you can be honest about yourself, be candid, be true to your own whims and desires, without giving much consideration as to what other people will think about it. Facebook is then a subset of real life where certain types of facades and maneuvering are the rule.
  - rmc 12y ago
    Name away-from-keyboard contexts where people don't do this. It's not a common as you seem to claim.
TeMPOraL 12y ago
> You put on a fake persona that is your maximally awesome self. Well, that's what you do. Others just write what they think and share what they life, caring only slightly to stay within the cultural norms. Exactly like in real life. There are lots of people who are calculating how they look, what they say, etc. in physical world as well. "How will people interpret this? Will it project the right image of me? Will my net opinion be increased or decreased among my friends' by this action? Is it compatible with current and/or future employers?" are they questions they ask themselves all the time.

TeMPOraL 12y ago

Exactly. Saying that Facebook is not real life is like saying that phones calls, radio and letters are not real life. Looking at the volume of letters they sent, people like Abraham Lincoln must have had absolutely no life.

rmc 12y ago
If you think about it, (fiction) books are even less of real life. It's a fictional world invented by someone else, and you get engrossed in a book and don't talk to anyone. But books are old and socially admired, so no-one who complains about Facebook also complains about books.