Frankenstein's Facebook

Frankenstein’s Facebook

Frankenstein’s monster…..never scared me. The classic irony of creation, exemplified in the quest for an anti-ethereal scientific form of perfection and everlasting, somehow more discomforting than frightening. Fashioned In man’s image, naturally.

Today’s modern-monster-creation equivalent? Facebook.

Now that scares me. Formed from millions of (posed) images of man, woman, pet and any possible element of one human being showing off to another. Facebook users, let’s be honest, the main point for an overwhelming majority of your devotion to the site, is but to rub your schadenfreude-sprinkled glee in other’s faces. An opportunity to delve into the lives of others whilst inviting others to delve into your “life” - or whatever it is you have created as an online portrayal of your existence (everyone suspiciously seems to live like they’re on an MTV video).

So why a monster tag for Facebook? Too much control, too much intrusion and way too high a level of influence on growing minds and perceptions as to what constitutes friendship and/or networking. Seemingly innocent, but really playing on natural human social/behavioural desires, unrelentingly focused on relationships…aka..is this person single? Even the Hollywood portrayal of Facebook’s inception saw founder Zuckerberg pivoting towards success only after the Eureka moment of adding the “relationship status” option . So, are we all really manifesting base human instincts (social gathering, mate suitability, reproduction) via today’s appropriately pertinent delivery mechanism? From cave to profile page. A human-leap of progress only in superficial terms furnished with modern expressions of strength and virility.

Has the original intention of the creation floundered beyond both control and reason? As with Shelley’s fictional tale, an experiment in social interaction has mutated and affected a significant swathe of humanity (800 million users at last count). Some, like myself (disclosure: I am not on Facebook) perceive a more worrying undercurrent of manipulation and basic profiteering of psychological insecurity. Worrying tales of Facebook-fuelled disorders abound, brought upon by awkward and inadequately equipped adolescents, struggling to deal with traditional but amplified in-the-world-wide-web of agony and instant humiliation/gratification world they reside in. A pronounced dilution of what a “friend” really means today. An exposure to adult-themes and issues witnessed by unformed and unsuitable young minds. For all the good that a social-networking tool like Facebook can do (keeping families in touch, spreading word of good causes etc.), the crowd-effect and danger of manipulation by powerfully-information-filled branding and marketing groups looms large.

Everyone knowing what everyone else is up to all-the-time, cannot be a good thing. Much of the latest financial crisis was created by the “me too” effect of marketing- causing a dangerous stretch beyond one’s reasonable means. A relentless barrage of pleasure-filled images of peers and “friends” serves to deepen modern society’s insecurities and unquenchable lust for “in-your-face” purchases. Worse still,  ideas of what constitutes the “correct” way to think and act, now increasingly influenced by staring at a screen and mimicking what the majority applaud and “follow”. Yes, there’s always been an element of the above threading through history’s cultivation of modern society, but it’s all happening so much faster and bigger now. Losing individuality and creativity is dangerous. The web has so far allowed a blossoming of creativity and admirable expressions of freedom – its greatest achievement – but amassing 1/6^th of the global population into a huge branding exercise (as Facebook’s latest “media-hub” strategy has done) must rank as a worrying twist to this platform for open improvement.

E-mail?? What, you don’t have Facebook?

Putting yourself out there on display and sharing moments with a growing collection of “friends” is not seen as a major issue by many. What is growingly alarming is the level of comfort younger generations have with divulging what used to be known as private-information to near-strangers. A telling proponent of generational shifts is to witness attitudes by various age-groups to Facebook. The eldest view it is a useful tool for staying in touch. The youngsters, that have literally been brought up with a natural “status updating” lifestyle, seem to exist more in their profile than off it. That is wrong.

Have you had a conversation with a tech-savvy teen lately? It is easier to predict weather patterns in Guatemala than understand their mannerisms and hold their attention for-longer-than-a-neutrino-flash through a normal conversation. Only a couple of weeks back I was confronted by a look of confusion and a tinge-of-disgust by an 18yr old that I suggested an exchange of e-mail to. “Facebook me man” was the response - as if I had requested they hand-write a letter using cursive, with perfect grammar, swim across the Atlantic and personally hand-deliver it to my door. Wow. Are we really that far into it? Is e-mail considered old technology, akin to people laughing at those still sending faxes back in the 90s?

Get with the times grumpy-oldish-man!..some of you will be shouting. Adapting and moving with new technology is what creates barriers between every generation. Those very same barriers serve mankind well. They allow us to constantly push otherwise  taken-as-gospel previous achievements to one side and reach higher goals (point in case: the possible recent debunking of Einstein’s - and an entire previous generation’s - law of physics). Absolutely true. There is no room for grumpy older technophiles to stand in the way of younger, savvy, society-changing Tweeters and Facebookers. That is not the concern. All that is good. But, there should be alarm for the rapid loss of innocence, privacy and old-school style of communication that has served us so well for the last few centuries. A backlash has already sprouted amongst some of the more discerning, with increasing numbers actually deleting Facebook accounts in the realisation that simply too much exposure is actually detrimental.

Inventing new and wonderful ways to facilitate mankind’s constant drive for improvement and growth is admirable, natural even. An invention that starts off as a good-idea but morphs into an all-powerful daily component of everyday interaction, capable of shaping and moulding attitudes and perceptions, should be viewed with some scepticism.

Frankenstein’s monster’s Facebook page status? “Desperately seeking meaning for my existence”. Aren’t we all.

Let's please discuss....

Hani Kobrossi