Not to mention all the angst.

So I quit MySpace. All my old AIM contacts dropped off the planet as everyone migrated to Google Talk and Facebook Chat, and largely I continued life as most of us had prior to 1999. I called people on the phone, I sent emails from time to time, and I looked at pictures of people I actually know because they were actively showing them to me. I was able to get over ex-girlfriends because I didn't have to constantly see what was going on in their lives, I was able to save all my witticisms for actual conversation instead of saying something in my head thinking "Now that's a status update!"

Fast forward three years to 2009. Everyone and their brother, mother, cousin and sister was on Facebook by this time. Even people who weren't on it at least knew what it was. The program had become ubiquitous since opening its doors to those of us not enrolled in college. People would chide me, saying "Hey Phil, why aren't you on Facebook? You should get on Facebook! It's like...you can see what everyone is doing! All the time!"

The answer "I don't want to know what everyone is doing all the time. I kinda wanna know what my friends are doing at the time they're doing it, or hear about it from them later," didn't really seem up to snuff. My friends would try to convince me how great it was, showing me their news feed and showing me all the things they were learning about their friends. Nevermind that when all of us would get together, they'd all end up telling stories that were already represented on their Facebook pages. It was compelling!

I brought this up after one such night: "Do you guys realize all you've done is talk about stuff you've already talked about on Facebook?"

Bewilderment. It was as if I'd asked Noah why exactly he needed two ducks on his ark.

"What do you mean?" "No we're not!" "Like you'd even know."

Umm...okay.

In February of 2009 I came down with a pretty nasty case of pleurisy, which is essentially like having someone stab you in the chest every time you inhale, and then remove the serrated blade while twisting every time you exhale. In the ER as I was stricken with what's called a "friction pop" (when your pleurisy-hardened lungs POP against your rib cage, causing the equivalent of an earthquake in your chest), an entirely stereotypical nurse told me:

"Sugar, I had two painful expurriences in my life. One was having my babies, and the other was having that pleurisy."

I was laid up for a little over a month with not much to do and even fewer places to go. It's entirely possible that I almost put Netflix out of business what with all the DVDs I watched; I played video games until I didn't want to even think about them anymore, I took pain pills until I didn't want to....well okay honestly I really liked the pain pills bit...anyway, I had exhausted nearly every option at that point. I had done everything I could do entertain myself whilst breathing with a lance through my lungs.

Except join Facebook.

With great trepidation, I created an account. I followed the "Getting Started" advice and found the "Friends" it suggested based on my place of work, educational experience, and other people I indicated I already knew. Within a few weeks I was up to 400 "friends." Without thinking I quickly jumped on nearly every opportunity Facebook gave me to "share" more information. You mean I can automatically publish my favorite YouTube videos to Facebook? YEAH! You mean I can automatically publish the latest vintage Norwegian pornography DVDs I purchased at Christie's last week? YEAH! You mean if I publish all this shit to Facebook and people "Like" it then I'll ultimately feel better about myself? FUCK YEAH! The sky is the limit to what you can share on the internet.

Or is it?

Sharing In the Cloud
What you may not immediately realize is that all of the things you share with Facebook; the things you like and dislike, your interests, hobbies and education, all become Facebook's proprietary information. Yes, they are still legally obligated to tell you what they intend to share. But tell me, have you read Facebook's TOS? That's 3,727 words without even delving into the other NINE legal documents that comprise Facebook's legal stance! Odds are, you probably haven't. I'll save you some time.




A few weeks ago, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced at a keynote event Facebook's plans to conquer personalize the web. Facebook calls it "Open Graph" (Keynote address can be found after the jump). To sum it up, picture a semi-translucent patchwork quilt made up of your likes and dislikes, your interests, your thoughts, your searches and even the things that you and your friends have in common. Imagine wearing that blanket over your head. Because it is semi-translucent, you can still see through it. However, because you have images of your likes and dislikes and other "personal" information superimposed before what you view, you begin to see the world in a skewed way.

Say you go to the park and see a man putting on a puppet show. You may have indicated on Facebook that you enjoy puppet shows and that you are politically conservative. Imagine then, viewing this puppet show through a specialized view, provided by this blanket. Suddenly, you're watching a puppet show based on what you believe.

This isn't immediately a bad thing. In fact, it COULD be kind of a good thing. After all, we humans have always gravitated towards the things we enjoy. Societal norms implanted from childhood generally keep us from overindulging. We know, for example, that sex not only makes babies, but also feels pretty damn good. But our history has implanted a "moral code" that tends to also attach feelings of guilt and responsibility to sex. This helps (with the exception of China) to keep things in check. We love it, but we're also not going to go apeshit over it in public.

Such is not the case with the internet. A decade is such a small thing when compared to the "open graph" of something like sex. Sex has been around since the beginning of mankind, indeed in many forms since the beginning of time, and we have as such found opportunity to mold it into what it is today. However we now stand at the precipice of a great opportunity to mold the future of mankind. In under half a century, a technology has become, in many ways, a more ingrained part of our society than even sex itself! You don't have to have sex to read the paper, but you do have to log on to the internet (or, if you're just...helpless...subscribe to a paper the old-fashioned way). Something with such impact over our lives has a dire significance in an individual's view of the world.

Imagine then, a person with an imprinted set of beliefs, who receives content and information based almost entirely on that which is known to be a belief or interest of theirs. Do you think most people will actively seek out opposing opinions? No! One of the great responsibilities of "media" since its inception was to present opposing viewpoints, to inspire discussion and debate that can lead to something palpable and effective in moderating society.

When was the last time a 4chan flame war changed the world (Rick-Rolling aside)? When was the last time a video posted on You Tube altered the course of human history?

The internet, as Facebook and other major conglomerates view it, is yet another system of control. The final frontier. He (or she) who controls the internet, indeed controls the future of humanity by limiting that which we consume; and in the worst scenarios, delivering to us only that which we are presumed to want to consume.

Final Thought
If you, like I, feel the need to be on Facebook for its genuine networking purposes, for the benefit of being able to get in touch with someone from your past or possibly someone who will greatly impact your future, stay. But please know your rights. Know what you are willingly subjecting yourself to, and know which pieces of data that make up the digital version of yourself are being shared with multi-national conglomerates who will tailor content to your pleasure without consequence and without so much as an opposing thought.

This article from Lifehacker has a great way to separate yourself from Facebook's riff-raff. There are numerous articles, blog posts and resources around the web that can help you protect your information and help ensure a future in which individuals rule their own privacy.