Front Porches and Facebook
I've been reading a lot of cynical stuff lately about Facebook and other social media. The main thrust is that these virtual communities are exceedingly self-centered, promoting the concept that life is all about "me".
Well, yes, they are. But I don't think Facebook is in any way MORE narcissistic than the front-porch culture of yesteryear. Nobody has a front porch in the real world anymore, where you sit in the evening, chatting with neighbors about the trivial events of your day. Whining, carrying on, sharing jokes, arguing, embarrassing ourselves...we don't do that on the front porch anymore.
We used to, though. We used to engage in conversation. We used to get mad, we used to get emotional in conversation, to the point where some of us had to apologize. And then we started over. And all this happened on front porches.
How do we engage each other when there are no front porches? How do we do that, living in condos? How do we do that, living in mansions, with special entrances for service people?
What is the "front porch" in the 21st century? I think that is the role of social networking media like Facebook.
What I love is that geography is meaningless. I can be as close to my nephews/nieces in Colorado/Pennsylvania as I am to my children in Pennsylvania/Maryland...just as though we lived on the same street. They can visit my "front porch" through Facebook, and I love it. I treasure the updates, just as much as if I had heard about them "through the grapevine" on my front porch.
Tools like Facebook take a lot of grief, as though their only purpose is self-promotion. To me, Facebook provides me with a front porch where I can speak or hold my peace as I see fit. Just as it has always been on front porches since the beginning of time.
Well, yes, they are. But I don't think Facebook is in any way MORE narcissistic than the front-porch culture of yesteryear. Nobody has a front porch in the real world anymore, where you sit in the evening, chatting with neighbors about the trivial events of your day. Whining, carrying on, sharing jokes, arguing, embarrassing ourselves...we don't do that on the front porch anymore.
We used to, though. We used to engage in conversation. We used to get mad, we used to get emotional in conversation, to the point where some of us had to apologize. And then we started over. And all this happened on front porches.
How do we engage each other when there are no front porches? How do we do that, living in condos? How do we do that, living in mansions, with special entrances for service people?
What is the "front porch" in the 21st century? I think that is the role of social networking media like Facebook.
What I love is that geography is meaningless. I can be as close to my nephews/nieces in Colorado/Pennsylvania as I am to my children in Pennsylvania/Maryland...just as though we lived on the same street. They can visit my "front porch" through Facebook, and I love it. I treasure the updates, just as much as if I had heard about them "through the grapevine" on my front porch.
Tools like Facebook take a lot of grief, as though their only purpose is self-promotion. To me, Facebook provides me with a front porch where I can speak or hold my peace as I see fit. Just as it has always been on front porches since the beginning of time.
posted by Kathy at 6/05/2009 09:07:00 PM
1 comments
