Are we becoming attached to Facebook?

Are we becoming attached to Facebook?


Image 1: http://pics-for-fun.com/must-update-fb-status-immediately/


It is easy to see why many users have become attached to Facebook, through its ability to connect each user as a superconnector just like any other social media site eg. Twitter/ Tumblr. It gives the users the idea of security and stability, and yet of a place of openness and freedom, (Tuan, Y. 1977. pp.6) where anyone can say anything to anyone and express themselves individually (Turkle, S. 1995. pp.246). For many users it allows them and others to feel quite empowered with users predominantly claiming their identities by showing them rather than telling (Zhao, S. 2008. pp.1816).


Facebook is a place endowed with power and people like to be with power that they can experience first hand through the rhythms and relationships that are created in particular places (Allen, J. 2003. pp.2) in which they network themselves. Making Facebook a space of it own with its own rules and conventions, made through language and symbols giving it meaning and value (Kuttainen, D.V. 2016. Slide 9). Turkle believes that the power of modern society is imposed not by one's own personal presence or the brute force of an elite caste, but by the way each individual learns to supervise  themselves making sure they do not seem an outcast of the social normality of Facebook (Turkle, S. 1995. pp.247).


Drawing on McNeill’s reading from this week, the ways in which Facebook users gain power through the unspoken rules and conventions is the way they present themselves when they post something whether it be a picture of themselves, or ranting about something that had happened, and how readers immediately react, making the poster feel quite empowered, leaving users wanting more social interaction thus becoming attached (Mcneill, L. pp.315). 


References:

Image 1: Need to update status on FB. Pics For Fun: retrieved from http://pics-for-fun.com/must-update-fb-status-immediately/ 

Tuan, Y. 1977. Space and Place: The perspective of Experience. London. England: Arnold


Turkle, S. 1995. Life on the Screen: Identity in the age of the Internet. New York. NY: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks


Zhao, S. 2008. Identity construction on Facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships. Volume 24, Issue 5, pp.1816-1836. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2008.02.012


McNeill, L. Language and new media: Linguistic, Cultural, and Technological Evolutions: Diary 2.0?. Cresskill. NJ: Hampton Press INC


Allen, J. 2003. Lost geographies of power. Malden. MA: Blackwell Publishers LTD


Kuttainen, D.V. 2016. BA1002: Our Space, Networks, Narratives, and the making of the Place. Lecture week 3. Power Point Slides. Retrived from http://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au