As far as Facebook goes, I've always felt that the experience one gains from Facebook depends on the individual and how they use it. Facebook is a great tool that can serve many purposes. Of course, communication and connection are the more predominant roles, but Facebook does more than just that. For instance, I know of people who use it to play virtual games, others who use it to share pictures. Some may uses Facebook to schedule events, or inform people of different events that are occurring. When the people of Egypt were in the midst of overthrowing their government, they used Facebook and other internet outlets to inform the rest of the world of what was occurring. Through that, they were able to gain world support and world attention.
Facebook is such a powerful tool. On one hand there are people like Carmen Joy King who invest a lot of time and self into creating a virtual image of her that she feels is best presentable, and on the other hand you have people who use it to do something revolutionary and life-changing. At the end of the day, it is truly how the individual chooses to use Facebook that determines the impact it will have on their life.
King used Facebook to make herself a virtual version of herself, one that she felt that she had to invest much time and effort into maintaining. And it was King's decision to use Facebook in this way.
If my time was spent changing my profile picture on Facebook, thinking of a clever status update for Facebook, checking my profile again to see if anyone had commented on my page, Is this what I am? A person who re-visits her own thoughts and images for hours each day? And so what do I amount to? An egotist? A voyeur? (Carmen Joy King)
These issues of wanting to constantly impress people, or her spending the time to re-visit her own thoughts and image was not created by Facebook. Perhaps Facebook just made her realize of these narcissistic traits.
Facebook may be an ego trip for some -King being proof of this, but it does not have to be. Not everyone spends time re-reading their statuses and looking through their pictures on Facebook. It all comes down to how the person chooses to use Facebook. I, personally, use Facebook for the connection factor. A perfect example would be when one of my friends went to Europe, she updated her Facebook frequently of pictures she took while she was there. With a click of a couple buttons, she was able to share her experience in Europe with all her Facebook friends. Or when I went on vacation one summer, I made a friend from the UK. Through Facebook, we were able to reconnect with each other. Facebook does not need to be about creating and maintaining this virtual image at all. It has capable of doing so much more.
I have gone offline of Facebook plenty of times, and it was not too painful for me to do it. Going off the internet, however, is an entire different story. A painful one at that.
