Expedition Facebook

Over the past while, my exploratory excursions have taken me into a world known as Facebook. A virtual meeting place of friends, acquaintances and of like-minded hopefuls. A world where banalities and make-believe are tendered as gospel, where friends rediscover each other; and where discussion threads are viewed as the alma mater of free speech.

Must admit that my travels through Facebook have been interesting and stimulating. Yet, it remains a cold and impersonal medium. One that panders friendship but delivers pretence, abject derision and emptiness.

When travelling amongst the numerous ‘discussion threads,’ one will run across racism, sex, presidential candidates, sex, conspiracies, sex, philosophies and more sex. Some threads carry emotional baggage from lonely hearts who want solace and possibly a shoulder to cry on. Other threads are filled with good intentions, but are continuously jacked (a Facebook term for hijacking/taking over) by users who see the whole issue as irrelevant, thus an object of ridicule.

Amongst some of the trivialities of Facebook is the ability to create an awesome individualist profile that can be linked to all friends and individuals. This profile can include items such as rate-me, how-sexy-am-I, how-alike-are-we and plagiarised famous quotes.

There is also one section that allows users to describe themselves. At face value, there is nothing wrong in the idea, but it’s the varied but similar descriptions that are interesting. The majority of users claim description like what-you-see-is-what-you-get, an-individual-that-loves-life, the real-cerebral-icon and say-it-like-it-is person.

Interestingly, in amongst the maelstrom of likeness and characters, some have taken to imitating others in the hope of creating consternation and so called fun e.g. South African Minister of Health.

The above notwithstanding, I find Facebook an enthralling study into the human psyche. In my wanderings through Facebook space, I have read how the Facebook population feels about the death-sentence, abortions, religion and the next presidential candidate. To my dismay, I have also learnt that size-does-matter, that one’s abilities on the dance floor relates to how one performs in bed and that any thread is open to being jacked, taken ‘off’ course and insulted.

The South African Network statistics page presents some facts that left me wondering as to the honesty of all who partake of Facebook: Firstly, most users class themselves as non-religious. This surprised me the most considering the discussions being tendered on subjects of abortion, love, sex before marriage and the death penalty. Secondly, most users rate themselves as not having a political identity or even affiliation, yet, once again, the verbiage being openly sprouted contradicts that statistic. Thirdly, being single is proffered as the title most go by – only six percent are married.

The other attention-grabbing statistic relates to the gender usage: 45% male and 40% female.

To my mind, what makes Facebook so derisive remains seated in the fact that there is no accountability or responsibility for actions or insurgent contradictions to social harmony. It is as if hiding behind one’s avatar (a graphic representation of one’s likeness) renders one omnipotent and immortal. Similarly for those who hide behind public personages: it’s as if they know that verification is difficult and downright improbable.

Myself I have found Facebook a good diversion for those periods in time when running-away seems most attractive and when there is nothing else on TV. I have also found it a valuable pool of information where it pertains to the gathering of human thoughts, human actions and human tendencies.

At the end of my explorations, I believe that I will continue to use the medium on offer. As long as I apply thoughtful restrictive measures, it is a fine medium. But like all things human; it is what it is.