Call it the FB mania or FBism, the “in-thing” today. Every other person surely has an FB ID whether or not has a Pan ID, Voter ID, Smart Card ID or Passport ID. Be it teenagers, youngsters, the middle aged and now even senior citizens (out of compulsion to be in touch with their NRI children) are all falling into this culture called FB.
I believe what attracts them about Facebook are : F: free; A: advertising of oneself; C: campaigning for one's ideas, with E: entertainment on a B: big scale, giving O: opinions, O: opposing at times and K: knitting strangers.
Facebook provides the free opportunity to advertise oneself by uploading hundreds of photographs; I wonder if any friend would have the time and patience to see all these photos and comment on the same. The most common comments are, “How sweet”, “Awesome pic”, “Excellent pic”, “Soooo sweet” or “Lovely pics”, with hardly even 10 per cent of sincerity and truth in the comment. The sole intention is — I commented on yours, now you comment on mine.
Facebook allows campaigning for one's ideologies through posting uninvited, unsolicited comments, emphasising views and thoughts vehemently and ending up in a war of words between absolute strangers.
But what excites me is the daily status updates. Anything is posted in the name of updating status. Following are some of these: “feeling low today”, “I am having a running nose”, “had idly, vada, sambar and icecream yesterday”, “want to go for a movie”, “made potato curry today.”
Sometimes, the status updates have a picture as well, specially during festivals. A proud display of home made diwali sweets, krishna jayanti sweets and, at times, the daily cooked meals, sometimes accompanied with recipes. And the comments for these are, “I wish I could eat it now”, “looks delicious” (wonder what would happen if the friend really tasted it), “please send it across.”(so that they could skip cooking on that day.)
The most amazing one was the status update of a woman with the ultrasound scan picture of her foetus, posted as her profile picture.What a pity even the unborn is forced to be a part of the facebook!
Last but not the least, the number race for having the highest number of friends lures them into accepting and sending friend requests for and from aliens; however, they may avoid their own relatives fearing breach of privacy. Also, such people have trouble saying “hello” to their neighbours, but the irony is the same neighbours who live just a few yards away are the best of friends on facebook and are found commenting on each other's pictures and perhaps chatting.
God save these jerks! Not excluding myself — a victim of this FB fanaticism. Why this FB veri di?
(The writer's email id is: deepusekhu@gmail.com)
Keywords: Facebook, social networking site
Funny thing is here,when i read the comments i tend to 'like' it as we do in FB :-). FB has impacted me that much even though i use FB only 15-20 mins a day.I just created an account to get in touch with my school and college friends.But i see people spending most of their time on FB posting videos and pictures which to certain extent,others can enjoy watching it.Many people got addicted and that's what FB wants.I see many people wasting their time till 2 am using FB.It doesn't really help anything.There is a proverb "Too much of anything is good for nothing".So, it is up to us whether to get addicted or not to FB.
very correct but still people like to be part of fb as it offers freedom
to chat with anyone and give the place to express our views and be in
company with our good ones.
Sir surely facebook has a lot of pros and cons.The idea of posting profile pictures is one feature i think that has made youngsters crazy.Many friends post profile picture and nag their friends to comment or like it in order improve the publicity for their photo.There was a friend of mine who was extremely shy and couldn't talk more than 2 minutes every time we meet.We tried all measures to make him talkative but we failed.Then i was awestruck after this fb phenomenon as he had around 1500 friends with his daily upload of pics and statuses inviting around 100 likes and 200 comments.He feels he is a prominent person among his friend's circle but fails to understand the actual implication which is he is still a loner.
This article is very near to the reality...this is my sincere opinion(as this is not FB).I read a joke before few days-One man before hanging is asked to say his last wish.He asks them to change his status in FB as dead. I feel that this JOKE will be a FACT in few days...which i never wish.
" People are curious to know about others' lives rather than their own lives".. Thats the reason facebook is liked by everyone, it gives you a chance to know about your friends and every Tom ,Dick & Harry.. Deepa has correctly pointed out some silly things, like people have all the time in the world to be active on facebook.. We do have pros and cons for everything.. To quote some good we get to connect with our old school and college friends and create awareness of good as well as bad.. On the other hand, there are FB addicts who cannot have a peaceful sleep until they log into their accoutn atleast once in day.. Sometimes you can see " Like" for a sad news, which is indeed really sad.. Its upto us to use FB to a limit but not beyond..
Facebook in general is definitely not the space for intellectual discussion or activism, which i feel is sad. Here is a rapid test to this fact. Post something about recycling of plastics or may be a link to a newspaper article about new developments in clean energy. Result: "1" like this. (That's your friend who liked it out of sympathy seeing that no one liked your status even after 12 hours of posting it). Next, post something like "My Boss is a dumb a**". Result: Sweta, Girish, Rahul, Ravi, Divya and 24 others like this" That is exactly what sharing means in Facebook!
Facebook is all about making new friends, keeping in touch with friends, relatives, colleagues etc. It is for those who enjoy company and would like to keep abreast with their friends and acquaintances lives. It is about 'Likes': not dislikes! It promotes positive wibes and energy in an increasingly negative and self centered egoistic society. In short, it is something that keeps up the communication going in this world where usually people have no time for others. That is the beauty of Facebook!
For those who do not like it, better not log in. They are simply not made for the modern epoch of Social Networking! Deepalakshmy, leave facebook to us lesser mortals who peruse it for our happiness, comfort and camaraderie with our near and dear ones, please!
Let's agree, it's FB time..! you can either hate it or love it..but can't ignore it. While the author has aptly ( and quite ill-humoursly) described certain facets of this mania,isn't it at any everybody's discretion to the extent to get addicted ?. I ,for one , use FB when i'm free,waiting for some important updates from friends and have something worthwhile to share with all my friends in one go!. All I have to say,is though its addiction,enjoy it ! ,afterall you are only yourself to blame either u miss it or mis-use it.
It is a choice. I might choose not to spend time on FB learning
irrelevant things about other people's lives and commenting on them!
Maybe actually pick up the phone and connect. I don't have a FB account.
And no, I am not ancient :)
well written, its a reality. all people including me are suffered with this negative aspect of FB. But FB is a medium to connect to our friends those are too far from us.Only Today i realised this negative aspect of FB. Thanksfor this article
A couple of years back I used to think like Deepalakshmi, branding facebook an utter waste of time. But now, I am wiser. When I started using Facebook, I found it absolutely fascinating. I found my childhood friends, usually through their children. Whenever there is a birth in the family or among friends, within seconds we all know about it. What’s more, we see the newborn within hours and readily become part of the happy kith and kin. I enjoy going around the world through the camera eye of my friends and they enjoy mine too. What’s wrong with it? Why should spreading happiness and sharing your joys be considered silly? The very tone of the article by Deepalakshmi in itself is silly, I would say, if not absurd. The typical pseudo-intellectual blah blah. Facebook is all about making new friends, keeping in touch with friends, relatives, colleagues etc. It is for those who enjoy company and would like to keep abreast with their friends and acquaintances lives.
Well,freedom of speech and freedom of expression is granted by Constitution of India.So let's not be too critical about people sharing their lunch and dinner menus ,oops !I forgot Desserts or sharing the pics of meals cooked by them,now c'mon ,may be only for the sake of sharing on FB and the love for those frivolous comments,they did something they might not have done ever.You can't escape from this FB fever but you can definitely escape the not so sense making comments.You can select your list of friends/family.You have an option to read what you want,no one forces anyone to go ahead and read/see all those comments,do they or can they .Power lies in our hands.
what's interesting is that one frequently counts the number of likes and comments on status and photos posted time and again,especially the females.The more likes make the one feel happy.The nice and long list of comments means that one is valuable person.All these are the virtual world.When one turn off his/her screen there is nothing left except the mixed feeling.So,it better to be realistic on FB.
FB is constructive platform to share ideas,to express thoughts,to efface geographical distance among peoples,friends and so on,but at the same time there are many draubacks of it as mentioned by writer,there is need of such kind of awareness campaigning against misuses in spite of ignoring it,if not this constructive platform into may turn into distructive one.
There are always pros and cons to anything man invents. FB is no
exception. I use FB only to be in touch with my real-life friends. I
make no virtual friends. It easier than draft a personal email or make a
phone call. A cryptic one or two line status update is sufficient to
communicate to your friends. And I spend probably 5-10 mins in a day to
check my FB timeline and respond to a few posts. Is that too much to
ask? I feel it depends on how you use the tool. Let us not trash
something that has helped people remain in/regain touch.
excellent. the FB phobia well said. i have one more addition---it works on the principle dat ' people are more interested in others life than their own!'
This article tells about the truth of facebook world people. I
understood this tendency three months ago and extricated myself.
Just as a coin has two sides, every invention has its own pros and cons. Lets look at the brighter side and ignore the misuses of FB. Anyway i loved the article, applauds to Ms.Deepa especially for the chic expansion of FB.
and oh ,yes ! I got to know abt this article ( not so articulate though) thru FB !
Aren't we being a a little judgemental and overtly cynical here ? While some of it is true it is harmless and whats wrong with expecting some positive attention ?? Afterall who doesnt want attention ? If it is positive why not ??!i was an addict too..but it was just in the beginning ..proves the law of diminishing marginal utility ..The trick in making the best of this new "F"ound "B"onding is to have a optimal number of genuine friends whom you want to connect with genuinely ..and not add friends randomly..If we learn to use any new technology to our advantage we will not become its slave ..I am sure the same judgements and cynicism came up with the advent of TV , Radio , Email , etc etc ..The fittest will survive ..
i love FB for all the positive things !! And it is upto me not to fake any bonding -whatever medium ..
LOL, looks like you got dumped recently on FB!!! Everything is relative. It all depends on perceptions.
I grew up in the 90s in a family that moved every 2-3 yrs owing to my father's job. The friends I left behind were out of touch but close to heart. Eventually I married a NRI & migrated overseas. I had no time to socialize with my husband's side of family. Being active on FB helped me connect with all of them including extended family.
I post my baby's pics so that when loved ones meet yrs later, they don’t feel disconnected to my child. I google recipes when my mom is still sleeping. I post festive pics as no one understands what Varalakshmi Nombu is where I live. I offer tambulam to my mom over Skype. I use net to deliver gifts to my parents & in laws. I'm educated & I've opinions on what's happening in my country which I like to voice. I sometimes stumble across a joke/video/article that can only be understood in Indian context.
YES I’M ACTIVE ON NET & I'M PROUD OF IT
People cry loud when a aadhar program is launched asking address and
verfications. But if FB asks them the people will pour in all
details...! Isnt FB a result of neoliberal intrusion into the ethical
values of a conservative society..in other words..( hindu daily
readers!).
I am sorry for being rude, but I must say, the FACEBOOK as an acronym is pretty
lame! :D
Most right facts about facebook. Can't agree more to these facts about facebook and its
present day usage.
To add to whatever has been mentioned in this article, facebook in fact creates barriers
between people rather than strengthening the bonding. People upload photos and expect
others to give comments , and in the spirit of facebook, people give great comments to pics
which merit no comments. It is a ridiculously fake world of friendship out there in facebook.
The sooner one realises, the better it is.
It goes like this on social media. I don't think The Hindu will allow
this comment.. which I got from a comment in yahoo..
Twitter: I need to pee pee!
Facebook: I pee peed!
Foursquare: I’m pee peeing here!
Quora: Why am I pee peeing?
Youtube: Watch this pee pee!
LinkedIn: I pee pee well
New myspace: let’s dance while pee peeing!
Google+: Let's all pee pee in a circle
Deepa, you forgot to add Twitter.
This article is really nice.i also an victim of facebook.the thing is everything has an limit and facebook is not an exception from this.
The Author is right. Although I don't believe in social networking where computer acts as a medium, I'm forced to create an account in Facebook by time and friends. These days, if I say 'I don't have an FB account', people look at me as though I'm from Mars or Venus.
Well, All I can say is as long as you are in control of FB and FB not
controlling you, you should be fine, It's just another app to serve you
and we should use it wisely.
this article is awesome.After reading this my heart is incline to accept the fact.
A good truely happening fact abt FB mania.....
appreciate this article...but its impossible to cure this mania...as ppl
taking it for socialising ,its part of them....
lets hope for the best!!
Well, Face book is something akin to a student's notebook. You can either use it for writing meaningful notes or you can use it to draw meaningless dirty caricatures. How the instrument is used depends on the user. You cant dictate millions (or billions?)of people what to write / post on the facebook and what not.
almost right but u can not think about the other uses of fb that it is social net site and people share their thouts and give comments............. but some guys make excessive use of it and this is not good .......use but for good not for wast time and mind!!!
Hilarious article with a very good message...i think the day will come soon when people living in the same house will know and talk to each other only though facebook...
Closed my FB account a quarter back and feeling great about it! :)
These are not the negative effects of facebook. these are our own
personality traits. I am a very frequent user of facebook, but I only
update my status one there is something very special happening and so
are my friends. There are some who make a frequent updates but that is
probably because they are getting bored and just want to do something.
P.S.: Leave the exception
very true fb is only wastage of time in which we all are trapped.......we get busy ourself all the time leaving important work aside.it mainly affect students n young generation.it hampers their study too.Although it has some fruitful application bt it leaves lot of negative implication too....It holds lots of dummy faces,untrue stories n mock comments...........
hai what you stated is absolutely right and absolutely wrong. Article is
nice and good. Keep going we want to here more. I loved your writing :)
Gr8 Article.
But m nt a FB freak,
Don't have A FB accnt yet.
A great article! Though I agree with the writer's stance, Facebook has become an undeniable part of our lives. Humans in general have a tendency to crave for love and appreciation, and Facebook just milks that! But I concur with the ridiculous status updates, that people post, telling their daily activities and stuff!!
It is a real one. but not applicable for this generation.It is a tool to touch with my friends.
people are more attracted toward facebook because they are more intrested in others like rather then their own!! god save us!!
The article showed the one side of using Facebook and it's true but we cannot ignore the positive side of it because people like me use it to stay in contact with friends and colleagues. sometimes, it helps to motivate ourselves too because our nice status or quotations can help us to gain our confidence again.
Deepa I really don't how to praise your write up enough. Only Deepa is capable of writing such wonderful stuff. Swati and my self read it together and enjoyed it thoroughly. Where have you got this wonderful sense of humor from Deepa?
true description of FB-Fever!
Yes it has more disadvantages rather than some good points but most time it depends on the users ,so "How they use it ?" It mattters ....
Facebook is only contributing towards an information explosion - loads and tons of information, but very little wisdom. People are getting addicted to FB - if internet was to be disconnected for a day, we can very well see the addiction levels of current day youngsters to it. The problem is the power that FB have invested in the hands of immature people - they make very trivial use of it. Technology is a good servant, but indeed a very bad master. And this applies in totality to Facebook. Its high time that we look at what actual benefits technology is providing to us.
This was an awesome article..it is really an eye opener for all the addicts and fanatics of facebook!!!
nice cartoon by Surendra. Very apt
very true! but unfortunately everyone is a slave of FB!
The article is mind blowing!!
completely agree on it.
Its really true and sometimes it is seen as the wastage of time on FB also.
Excellently written the truths........
Albeit a lot less interesting, this article was as much a waste of time as facebook.
People who comment on this are probably doing so because their office firewalls block facebook and this is as close to making facebook comments as they could from offices.
facebook is one world community , where all are equal and express their thoughts
equally .
Face book may have many faces and many angles how one look at it..But i feel great as i am always in touch with my friends and relatives..It is really a great idea..
It's a social "not"working site!
I feel that an article should be written with both pros and cons. You only talk about people who are on facebook to boast. You may be one of them. Very few of my friends are such. I don't go to boast on facebook. It is a silly notion. I have friends in all parts of the world. Facebook keeps me connected with them. They know my life's highlights and I know theirs. I don't put pics of my son to boast of him. I put it up to share my pride in him and with other people who are of the same thought. You expect me to pick up my phone to call my friends who are in Germany, UK, Russia, Australia everyday? And yes when I am having a crappy day and update my status, kind words from friends help me a lot. It doesn't for you. It is fine. Neither does it make me a freak.
the above said is really true...but the best part of fb is that we liked
this article by loggin into fb account...
Of all the 'silly sides' advanced there... its that "I believe what
attracts them about Facebook are : F: free;..." I find as the weirdest .
What about the internet charges, the electricity...the purchase of a
PC/Laptop/Blackberry or other kind of mobile phones...etc etc
The writer can seek God to save herself. The rest of us are capable of
reaching God ourselves.:)
I completely agree. A few people misuse it in all aspects and so anyone
using Facebook is looked at with disgust. One thing which I cannot
digest is, as you has mentioned, the rat race for having more number of
friends. What is in a number? Why would one want to disclose private
information to a complete stranger just because they need to be seen
having more number of friends in their list? I agree that Facebook has
helped me stay in touch with my friends, but I've never and would never
befriend a stranger and get to know him/her through Facebook.
Facebook works on idea that people these days are more interested in
others life rather than their owns.On fb everyone can feel like a
celebrity.!
All true.
+1
One of my friend in US posted 'she wans to come back to india. Missing home'. This status update got 190 likes. Even I could not miss this opportunity to poir my thought on the status and I wrote "Who is stopping you. Book a ticket and come back".But she deleted my comment.
Even I do post some social and political issues but no body likes or comments.
The article is conveying the apt message to the readers.The sentence that cotes"Every one is having a fb account rather they have a pan id or voters id..." this is a much correct thing about fb users.. the article conveys that how important is the social networking site called facebook...Very good thought....
Comments to a FB member who has a feminine name and a young girl's photo
on the homepage shows very often "u r so sweet" "like you very much" "i
lv u" and many such words oozing out love for a stranger. One may not
dare to tell the words directly but hiding behind some "fake" photo and
ID so many are blabbering.
Very well written... the best of the best are the examples of status updates “feeling low today”, “I am having a running nose”, “had idly, vada, sambar and icecream yesterday”, “want to go for a movie”, “made potato curry today.” Unfortunately even God can't save such jerks !!
Facebook is a messenger for what we feel,our thought,our dreams and our fantasy....
Since its impossible to have everything we want in real life,we shared through social network thinking atleast someone cares.......
Thats the beauty of this sites...
i totally agree to it.. really how foolish of those people who use fb jst for these silly things.. i liked the article.. well fb is good to stay in touch with old friends n all..n there r many more good things to do with ur fb like reading articles n all.. but whole the time sitting on fb n gossiping n commenting is nt appreciable.. instead do some innovative things n make urself wiser n wiser.. f for fb n f for fake.. jst remember..
Why FB is so popular because it is the easist way to get appreciation publically. In real life anyone may or maynot have great thought but by agreeing on someones idea or thought he/she can get appreciation. Further people of common thought may come closer but it happen rearly because very few people have the abilty to put their own thought as it is on the FB.Anyways a very good thought....
Why this FB veri di? 2 prominent reasons: a. Everyone needs Love, Loving Concern, Appreciation to carry-on with their lives (which of-course the commenters do in their own sweet time) b. Being World famous in the security of their homes is another reason for it being a viral fever among the young. Not to mention the possible encounters thereafter!
wonderful writing.people are getting extreme addicted to such things now.students hardly study in their free hours now,they lack physical exercises and even get dipressed just because of any wrong comment or post.it is good to stay connected with people we know but we should not spoil our precious time on such a thing which hardly makes any difference to our future..
you have opened the real page of face book which no body will see in this FB. The article was an eyeopener for everybody those use the Facebook just to see photos and to chat. what i feel is the facebook should be a used as a tool used for making the awareness about the social issues,global warming, energy conservation, etc. very good article. i liked it.
This is what the facebook is designed for isnt it? To make regular life its boredom, trivialities, idiocies and idiosyncracies gain a wider attention...So why describe 'the silly side of facebok' when the only intention of Zuckerberg is to make money out of the humanity being generally silly. I do not see any other side to FB. But ideed the author's observations sans merit as it does take courage to state boldly the art of being silly. The best coment I have seen in the FB, considering the ongoing music season, is 'listening to such & such raga and swara by so & so' while attending a concert. As the writer points, every carnatic musician has thousands of friends (the definition of 'friend' is blurred as far as FB and carnatic music is concerned) thus the highlight of the season being the realtime analyses of raga alapana via FB. At least wired and wireless rasikas know what is happening in each sabha in Madras and when to hop and stop realtime!!
Interesting, all factuals, bit a little uncharitable. We live in an astonoshingly fast evolving cultural space and every tool n tack that help unwind or even bloat the ego, need not be frowned upon. These addictions are as easily erasable and in the nature of things, will melt away over a period of time. Perhaps, the right prescription is to enjoy every opportunity responsibly promoting harmony and freshness amongst friends. I must confess I enjoyed reading the article gr8ly.
Very aptly put :)! Though is facebook all that different from exchanging comments
with little known neighbours/colleagues one meets in passing ... 'nice dress', 'o your
kid is so cute' 'come over for coffee sometime'! Only here it is on a geographically
larger scale.
they should rename facebook.com to boastbook.com :)
Excellent statement made for facebook. But every matter has a positive and a negative side of it provided your attitude plays a role in it. I am a frequent user of facebook but only to stay in touch with my friends; facebook helped me to locate many of my childhood friends. But I still agree with the negative part of your. KUDOS!!!
Very true, very funny. Thats the present culture, no escape. All trapped
in it.
here is one more..junta does not have time or inclination to pick up the phone and make a call, but has all the time to pour their hearts out on FB
Please Email the Editor