A Mask

When people say they are on Facebook 24/7, they are obviously exaggerating. However, it’s true that many Facebook users today, especially high school and college students, are on Facebook for an unhealthily large number of hours daily. As a college student, all I have to do is sit in the back row of a lecture hall to witness this phenomenon, as most of the students “taking notes” on laptops are really checking out their News Feeds. What makes Facebook so addicting? The obvious answer that Facebook probably advertises is that the social network is a platform where humans can learn more about their friends and family and stay updated, which is definitely true. However, I believe there is another less obvious reason:

Facebook can also be addicting because it gives a human complete control over how others perceive them.

A Facebook user can choose exactly what dimensions of their being others can see. They can control which photos of them are visible to the public, as seen when many people “de-tag” from photos where they find themselves unattractive. They can instantly reveal to others what they are looking for (i.e. networking or a relationship), their basic interests, their favorite activities/music/books/movies/TV shows, and really, anything they want, without speaking a word. Before Facebook, never has a human been able to so easily express so much information about himself in such a public medium without any direct contact or conversation. One of Facebook’s many functions, therefore, is a unique way for anyone to achieve instant customized self-expression to many.

From this perspective, Facebook is similar to Second Life, a 3D virtual world where users create an alternate identity that they can control all features of. While Facebook is much more restrictive in that people generally do not post false information about themselves, Second Life lets anyone pretend to be anyone they want to be to others, ridiculous lies included. In no other situation in history is a human able to achieve such an effect so effectively. Addiction to both Facebook and Second Life may partially stem from an innate desire of humans for others to view them positively, which is something both social networks are capable of doing.

When else in humanity’s existence has any being had so much control over their image? This I cannot recall. Saying that power of these new social networks is overwhelming is an understatement.