OP-ED by Eric Peter Schwartz
Years ago, when I first joined Facebook at the urging of a couple of friends, it was a very different place. We’d all left Myspace because of the noise and the ads and the stupid ass bling that would freeze your friggin’ hard drive.
Anyone who knows me knows that I love social media. I just do. As a performer (or rather an unstoppable ham), I love that it allows me to connect to people important to me. I was never good at keeping in touch when I was younger; I was a horrible letter writer. Actually, that’s not true. I was good at writing letters. I was just bad at remembering to do it. I was also terrible when it came to picking up the phone. When I discovered social media it helped me remember to connect. That was the best part. I couldn’t help but connect with people.
So, I jumped in. The days of AOL chatrooms are foggy now and the Bulletin Board years, the precursor to today’s comment section flaming – I try my best to forget those. For me, social media started in about 2005 with Myspace. To be honest, Myspace was great for a little while, a very little while. We all seemed to leave Myspace because of the noise and the ads, and the bling that would freeze your hard drive for 20 minutes while it loaded. Some younger friends of mine put me on to Facebook. Within a year everything changed.
I reconnected with so many friends through Facebook. People that were once lost to me. People I just met. Coworkers. Family. The Famous. The wanting-to-be-famous. Sure there was goofy stuff like cocktails you could send to people. Or bad album covers and action figures. It was cute. However, unlike Myspace, it seemed like there were actual conversations happening. People connecting and finding each other. It was fun to have a couple of drinks and chat with people at night. Then came the games. Mob Wars and Farmville. I played a little Uno with people. I would play Scramble or take a Geography test. I think that’s when the conversations started to dry up. Once you could go to 7-11 and buy Farmville credits, things seemed to go quiet. Actually, the noise increased and the talking stopped.
Now maybe 30 percent of my feed is what I’m actually here for. How are my friends doing? My family? The rest is like that scene in ‘Life of Brian” with all the prophets standing along the street shouting. Declaring and sharing. Buzzfeed. “Clickbait” articles declaring, “You won’t believe what happened next.” “If you really love your blah blah, you’ll share this.” Memes instead of thoughts. Fake news articles that people share as real. I rarely get into any real conversations that aren’t a debate or railing against one thing or another, whether left or right. Everyone feeling superior to everyone else. We are all waiting for “the other” (whoever that is) to do something or say something stupid so we can all share it and cackle.
I am just as guilty as anyone. Not better. I get swept up in the noise too.
We have this amazing tool of connection. This amazing window to the world and our loved ones and we’ve filled it with garbage, like the back window of car stuffed with beanie babies. It’s not Facebook’s fault. And there’s really nowhere else to go; everyone I love is here.
It’s late. I’m tired. My head is noisy. I just wish I (… and we) could do better. I don’t usually do New Year’s resolutions, but if I did, that would be it. I want to treat these connections more like the precious things I think they probably are.
How do you use Facebook and social media? Share in the comments below.
