Facebook – A Somewhat Necessary Evil…

May 11, 2013

From jpegy.com
From jpegy.com

In keeping with some stuff we’ve been talking about this week – how much I care way too much about what everyone thinks and my “year of responsibility” – let’s go ahead and talk about how one component of being more responsible in my life is cutting down on my use of Facebook.

(The rest of this post and the upcoming one(s) related to it have to do with the use of my personal Facebook page (which as of now I still have, but hope to someday get rid of) – not my public Facebook page.)

I really dislike Facebook. That’s not to say there aren’t some good things about it. (If there was no good in it, I wouldn’t be on it anymore, would I?)

Most people I knew started getting Facebook around 2007-ish (some even before that). And I was so happy to not have it. Everyone kept telling me to jump on the bandwagon, and I blissfully ignored them.

Then, I had a college professor who nagged me about it for the majority of 2009, until I finally caved and got Facebook!

In his defense, he was right. As someone working in the entertainment industry and freelancing, it is important to be on Facebook. I have definitely gotten jobs through Facebook. Heck, I got possibly the best job I ever had through Facebook. (Room & board in Vegas paid for, for a month – with great coworkers (and a great salary).)

So, Facebook does some things that are good. It’s also helped me to reach out to some people who I wouldn’t know how to contact otherwise – people I maybe see in a small show or actor’s just starting in a small role on an episode of a TV show. When people are great, I really like to tell them they’re great. And I’ve connected with a couple of people through Facebook. So, that has been nice.

Facebook also has a darker side. How many arguments have you gotten into – or seen others get into – on statuses over opinions and such. Things get so amplified over the internet! I don’t know what it is, but it seems like if someone types something that can possibly be taken in any kind of wrong way, 5 people jump on him all at once, and there’s a virtual shouting match on someone’s status.

Photo Credit: http://digitalministry.com/AU/articles/657/Facebook's+bad+case+of+not+loving+you/1
Photo Credit: http://digitalministry.com/AU/articles/657/Facebook’s+bad+case+of+not+loving+you/1

I think we probably need to tone it down a little. (And by “we,” I mean me as well.)

In my “year of responsibility,” I’ve been trying to clean out my emails, and messages on any other system as well, so that includes Facebook. While going through my Facebook messages, I’ve seen a few – some with people I didn’t even know that well – where we kind of argued. It was almost always over really stupid stuff, and materialized out of pretty much nothing.

I don’t know if there’s something about the written word that sounds so much meaner than spoken word, but Facebook can definitely get a pretty mean vibe rull quick.

Mean vibes aside, I think it’s important to remember the purpose of Facebook. Of course, this is just my opinion. But, as far as I’m concerned, Facebook is mainly for job opportunities – a nice place to post if you’re looking for help on a show so that people you’ve worked with before can let you know that they’re available. And it’s a great place for you to comment on other posts when you’re available.

That is really the main point of Facebook as far as I’m concerned. It’s also sort of to be able to take a peek at the lives of people with whom you’re not really totally friends anymore, but still like and might want to check in and just see that their life is going well.

(It’s actually also a pretty nice place to be able to post about your projects without flooding friends’ inboxes – and a no-pressure way to keep up with friends’ projects… Of course, sometimes people rely too much on this working. I’ve recently found out about 2 friends’ kickstarters through non-Facebook avenues, and they were both surprised I hadn’t seen them on FB after that blasts about them.)

It’s also actually an okay place to get to know some acquaintances who might prove to be cool people in your life, but the first time you met wouldn’t have been strong enough to keep up otherwise.

It’s also kind of helpful if you’re visiting town or something. It’s an easy, low-pressure way to reach out to people you knew there and see if they might want to hang out.

What it should not be used for is staying in touch with your great friends, or validating your own life. It also should not be used for kind of spying on people who maybe had a bit of a dramatic exit from your life (but you’re interested in punishing yourself by looking at what they’re up to).

I could talk about Facebook forever. I won’t talk about it forever, but I will talk about it more tomorrow.

I'd love to hear from you! So whaddya say?