Facebook Vs the World

It has been 4 years now since I created my very own Facebook account. Through that time I have watched it evolve in format, role, and popularity. What was once an occasional medium for communication and news updates, has become the central focus of many people's day to day lives. If it stopped there it wouldn't be so bad, but standing hand in hand with social networking is a little coalition of electronic devices that have begun to take over our lives. The question that I am examining today is simply, how much technological progress can our society survive? To answer this, I want to look at the 3 things that I feel pose the greatest threat to humanity today, beginning with the smartphone.

Although we are only a year and a half through this decade, I feel confident that the statement that will come to encapsulate it in the end will be, "I have an app for that." I can honestly say that I have never uttered these words, because I do not own a single I-product; not pod, nor pad, nor phone. I am a proud owner of a dumb phone, and it is my personal goal to remain such until the option no longer exists. Now, don't get me wrong, I do not mean to imply that these products are evil or that you are wrong for owning one, but they do present some concerns. First, there is the issue of accessibility. By being in touch with everyone and everything at every moment, I fear we are eliminating a key aspect of humanity: human interaction. Imagine a future where everyone has a smartphone. There is no more stopping for directions, there's a GPS app right on your phone. You needn't worry about knowing anyone's birthday; you'll be reminded that day by your Facebook app. That might not seem so bad, but what we are working towards is a world where spoken words are few, interpersonal relationships exist primarily in cyberspace, and spontaneity only occurs when your battery dies and you have to improvise.

The second source of societal decline that I would like to draw your attention to is the E-reader: iPad, Kindle, etc. I understand the convenience aspect of these, but above all others I wish that these had never been invented. I love to read, and I love books. Now, these two statements have two different meanings. If I only said that I love to read, then I would eagerly purchase a Kindle or Nook in order to enhance my reading experience. However, my love for reading is married to my love for books. Some of my fondest childhood memories are going to the library with my Gramma and getting to pick out a book. Walking up and down the rows and looking at the thousands of titles, thumbing through the spines, and pulling out that one book that I couldn't wait to tear into. I can't imagine that that would be quite as vivid and warm a memory if the rows of titles were on a computer screen, and instead of thumbing through them I simply scrolled down the page with a computer mouse, and rather than curling up on the couch and opening that book, I sat focusing my eyes on digital words on a screen. Reading a book is an experience that cannot be digitized. Again, if all the world owned one of these, what need would there be for a library, or a bookstore?

Now, on to the greatest inspiration for this article: Facebook. As I said I am a member of the Facebook world, and rarely do I go a day without logging on. I live away from most of my family, and it has been a helpful tool in keeping in contact with them. I don't have to print out pictures of my kids and snail mail them all over the country, I just upload a new album and everyone can see it. I didn't have to make 50 phone calls when my daughter was born to let everyone know that she was here and healthy, I just updated my status and watched why the "Congratulations" flooded in. It begs the question, "What did we do without Facebook?" Well, I want to answer that. We printed out pictures of our kids and mailed them to our family, so that when they received them they didn't have to bother printing out their copy, they could take it straight to their refrigerator. We picked up the phone and called our loved ones on their birthday, so that they could hear our voice and know that they were worth a phone call to us, and not just the typing of the words, "Happy Birthday" on their wall. We worried about people, because we hadn't heard from them in a while, so we got in our car and drove to their house for a visit. Before Facebook we had real relationships, with real people not just with their profiles.

Now back to my original question, how much technological progress can our society survive? If it stopped here I wouldn't worry, but we seem to never be content with what we have. I'm sure that as I type this someone is working toward a better iPad, a smarter smartphone, a more appealing Facebook, and we will all probably follow suit and upgrade as soon as the newest version becomes available. So, where will it end? How much convenience, how much accessibility, how much technology is enough to satisfy us? Or are we, as I fear, insatiable? I feel like it is a question worth asking, though the answer will only be revealed with time. Until that day we must answer but one last question, "What's on your mind?"