For some reason, I felt like I should have titled this "America's Facebook Obsession" because I always hear people talk about how Americans are so obsessed with technology. Instead, I decided on making it broader and somewhat unoriginal, the title of this post being the title of the CNBC documentary I watched which gave me the idea to write about Facebook. Out of all the shows my lazy ass has been watching the past several weeks or so, I'd have to say this one had the most substance to it.
Facebook was established in 2003 and today, roughly 1 in 12 people in the world uses it. I can't think of the perfect word to use here, but I'll go with mind-blowing. Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, virtually has control over how we - meaning everyone in the world that uses Facebook - communicate. We may complain every time Facebook evolves out of nowhere to be "more efficient," but at the end of the day, everybody puts up with it and still continues to use Facebook because we're "obsessed." I do not exclude myself from this.
Comparing how Facebook worked in the beginning before it was tweaked over and over to get to where it is today is crazy to look back on. The way Facebook is now, it seems like it's hard to keep anything a secret. Sometimes I wonder why people even bother asking me what I'm studying, where I'm going to school, where I'm from, what kind of music I like, etc. when they're friends with me on Facebook. If a stranger fills out every single part of the "About Me" section, I can look at their profile and feel like I know them.
Don't even get me started on the new Facebook. The "Memory" option displays all of your most popular statuses, new friends, pictures of you tagged, sorted by year. It is completely unnecessary and makes me feel like I'm stalking myself when even just clicking on my own.
This turned into one of those "technology freaks me out" posts. It is impossible to forget about someone when they're your Facebook friend, even when you don't even talk to or live near that person. High school graduation is supposed to be so emotional and whatnot because you'll never see a lot of those people again, but if I really wanted to see almost any given person I graduated with again, I could make plans through Facebook. I can't tell if this is a good or bad thing.
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