Marche’s is Facebook making us lonely(2012)
If the truth were medication then it would be a hard pill to swallow whole and this fact is well elaborated by the blog that seeks not to relate modern loneliness with Facebook.
The writer of the blog seeks to distance modern loneliness and lack of interaction with new social technology such as Facebook that is widespread around the globe, cutting across all races, traditions, beliefs, ethnic backgrounds, age, social status, sex and political affiliation(Carlson15). Rapid technology changes have made communication easier especially with the fiber optics around. Yet with these myriad advantages of superfast communications comes the issue of alienation and separation as there is no need for contact or traditional eye to eye in order to communicate with others. This accelerates the feeling of loneliness and desperation. The conception of Facebook is at a time when there is an increase in human loneliness.
Loneliness as a feeling can be caused by many factors and should not be confused with being alone. (Duck 29) states that the factors contributing to loneliness do so at a certain time and are triggered by certain conditions or circumstances.Both loneliness and being alone are on the rise due to reduced social interaction and less confiding in one another. The social disintegration has led to the rise of psychologists to replace the confidants. The issue of societal breakdown has transformed into medical cases. Being lonely is not beneficial to your health. It leads to an increase in probability of obesity, inflammation, poor memory, dementia and decline in cognitive functions. Loneliness will cause you to exercise less and increase your chances of ending up in a home at a much earlier age.
But before the conception of Facebook,the introduction of the digital technology facilitated the increase in loneliness. The increase in opportunities to connect led to less human interaction. Researchers found out that an increase in internet usage resulted to an increase in loneliness. Pertinent question were later raised regarding the issue of loneliness. Does an increase in internet usage result to loneliness or does the internet attract lonely people?
A study done in Australia found out that Facebook users had a higher level of family loneliness compared to social loneliness. The study also found out that there was an increased tendency of lonelypeople to spend more time in Facebook than those who were not lonely. The effect of Facebook depends on the value you add in. For example if you like a person’s status it increases your social capital. However personalized messages are more interactive than that clicking the like button. However the use of non-personalized messages is common to the lonely people. People who experience loneness in Facebook are also lonely away from Facebook.
The truth of the matter is that Facebook does not cause loneliness any way. It is something that we implant on ourselves and vent it out on social media. We are the decision makers of our destiny and our lives and not computers. It is us who control the computers and not the computers that control us. With all the allurements of moderntechnology forms of communication we can still control ourselves to the ancient forms of interactions to that have proved to elude loneliness such as face to face interactions. It is therefore in order according to Marche’s blog to conclude that the culprit for increase in loneliness is us not Facebook.
References
Carlson, N: At Last- Full Story on How Facebook was Founded, March 5, 2010:15. Print
Duck, S: Human relations (2ed) 1992: 29. Print
