{"id":12,"date":"2014-09-13T14:19:02","date_gmt":"2014-09-13T21:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/thewordprocessor\/?p=12"},"modified":"2014-09-15T18:10:07","modified_gmt":"2014-09-16T01:10:07","slug":"facebook-is-evil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/thewordprocessor\/2014\/09\/13\/facebook-is-evil\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook is Evil, and Other Relevant Musings"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all have to admit that social networking is the easiest and fastest way for immediate connection, albeit a connection\u00a0that pales in comparison to physical interaction with real<\/em> people, as discussed in Clarice Chan’s post<\/a>. Mind the emphasis on the word “real”, because that’s something I’ll process for you later.<\/p>\n

Facebook is just one of many\u00a0platforms in which a user can create content, share content, and digest content. In this Ted Talks video<\/a>, Eli Pariser succinctly describes said online content, especially from a popular social networking site, as being more “junk food” (i.e. unhealthy for your body and mind; superficial) than nutritional (i.e. educational; eye-opening, mind-opening).<\/p>\n

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source<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

The first of a myriad of problems that this corporate machine imposes on our culture is a topic that several of my classmates touched upon, which I shall refer to from this point onward as Facebook Photoshop<\/strong>. You may be familiar with\u00a0Adobe Photoshop<\/a>\u00a0and its wonderful abilities to\u00a0erase blemishes, alter appearances, and manipulate an image to an infinite extent. Well, with\u00a0Facebook Photoshop, you too can 1) erase your personal flaws, as Callie Hitchcock<\/a>\u00a0points out, 2) alter other people’s perceptions of your identity, as mentioned in Kendall Blenkarn’s post<\/a>, and 3) make up an entire vacation of 42 days to South East Asia that DID NOT HAPPEN<\/a> (both Brooklyn Kemp<\/a> and James Timperley<\/a> touts this user-friendly ability of Facebook Photoshop v. 3.0, get yours today, it’s FREE).<\/p>\n

Just as James questions in his post, “Are you the same person online?” I must also ask you this: “Are your friends even real?”<\/p>\n

That may sound harsh but Sierra Weiner<\/a>\u00a0agrees that we all have\u00a0an online identity that has been “preauthorized” by the unknown algorithmic forces\u00a0which basically dictate what we like, what we will Like, and what should be hidden from us (a concept that\u00a0Matias Taylor<\/a> discusses further). Sierra\u00a0goes as far as suggesting that “the perceived act of individualism is purely illusion”.<\/p>\n

The second problem of\u00a0Facebook (a multi<\/a>–billion<\/a>\u00a0enterprise that has\u00a0rooted snugly in\u00a0our daily lives) is the collection of private information being used for profit via\u00a0selective advertisement. Both Cheryl Fung<\/a> and Jenny Bachynski<\/a> dwell on this unsettling situation.<\/p>\n

The third and most prominent issue was addressed by many of my classmates, such as Carly Bean<\/a>,\u00a0Denean Yang<\/a>, Preet Chhina<\/a>, and Tanzeela Piyasha Parveen<\/a>. How are we supposed to expand our mind when filter bubbles are keeping us isolated from the unknown? If algorithms are continuously cycling the same information that we have been exposed to, how are we supposed to learn about the real world? What if we just keep getting fed Youtube parodies instead of National Geographic documentaries? WHAT IS GOING ON, INTERNET?<\/p>\n

But even through this modern mess, we are all still enamoured with\u00a0the World Wide Web. Guess what, the Internet in North America is still a relatively uncensored haven\u00a0(excluding that whole Megavideo-FBI fiasco<\/a>) compared to other places, like China (mentioned in Stephen Cook’s stimulating\u00a0post<\/a>). I mean, check out WikiLeaks<\/a> and the Anonymous<\/a> network. Where else can a group of random people come together to collaborate on intelligent, important, and accessible conversations that may teach others to act on their benevolent ideas?<\/p>\n

Rosie Pierce<\/a> offers another positive\u00a0view\u00a0to this fast-paced world of instant connection: the function of social networking as a way to motivate ourselves to “self-improve and live up to the identity we build”.<\/p>\n

And Nina Xu<\/a> reminds us that we can control our filter bubbles by becoming aware of our own limitations as tech consumers and chronic Google-rs, and “actively\u00a0seeking out opposing viewpoints, clicking links that we disagree with, and engaging with those whose politics we do not support”. We can be more than users of this technology; we can build it, bend it, mend it. It really is all up to us.<\/p>\n

As I finish writing, I am reminded of a link<\/a>\u00a0I posted on Facebook that garnered far more interest than I thought it would. It\u00a0started a feminist\u00a0discourse among a variety of my Facebook friends, from high school acquaintances that I have nothing in common with to new friends whom share my views, and even friends of friends whom I don’t know. And for that, I am thankful of Facebook’s mysterious ways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all have to admit that social networking is the easiest and fastest way for immediate connection, albeit a connection\u00a0that pales in comparison to physical interaction with real people, as discussed in Clarice Chan’s post. Mind the emphasis on the word “real”, because that’s something I’ll process for you later. Facebook is just one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9740,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1075019],"tags":[73,848170,845],"class_list":["post-12","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-class-blog","tag-facebook","tag-filter-bubbles","tag-identity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/thewordprocessor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/thewordprocessor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/thewordprocessor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/thewordprocessor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9740"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/thewordprocessor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/thewordprocessor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/thewordprocessor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions\/43"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/thewordprocessor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/thewordprocessor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/thewordprocessor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}