Mark Zuckerberg is still watching you.
Though old news to Facebook devotees, Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, recently apologized for previously inadequate privacy controls on the site's newly created "News Feed" and "Mini-Feed" features.
Still, members claimed, "Facebook is stalking me." Yes, a Web site in which you voluntarily post personal information to be viewed by others at will is hoarding information about you in some grand conspiracy to let everyone know you are now friends with (insert name of random person you never talked to in high school).
Facebook isn't stalking you, you egoistic college student. If anything is scary about the new features, it's how they highlight the progression of our generation's anti-social tendencies. We no longer gain personal information directly from a person, but from a continuous "News Feed."
Students prefer tuning out with an iPod when walking to class rather than falling prey to a casual conversation. Bloggers disclose intimate details about their life to an anonymous web of users, but can't replicate this willingness in person. Impersonal text (and Facebook) messaging replaces colorful interaction with staccato electronic exchanges. Don't forget instant messaging, where people barely message each other anymore. Most just check others' passive-aggressive away messages and ambiguous, lyric-ridden profiles.
Admit it, it's kind of difficult to give an earful to someone who has a headphone in one ear and both hands talking to a completely different person. It's more than strange, it isolates us. Instead of calling an old friend to catch up, we settle for a profile.
People laud this technology for its convenience and efficiency. Some argue that otherwise reticent people can engage in personal and open conversation — meaning that there's no longer incentive to connect with others in person. What's lost in translation is meaningful interaction which helps shape our sense of self in an increasingly chaotic world. Who are you now but a snapshot, a favorite quotation, a category?
Facebook's privacy settings describe the "Facebook Development Platform," which gathers profile information "in order to let them develop new features and applications that we hope will enhance your ability to interact with people in your life in new and interesting ways."
New and interesting should be reserved for people, not modes of interaction.
Some say Facebook's new features all too prominently display a member's personal life as it develops, calling it scary.
Like it's scary to put oneself out there. Like it's scary to go directly to a person to get information rather than sending a message. Like we're scared of other people. Like we're isolating ourselves.
And now for some irony…
