I’ve noticed that my students have been joining a lot of Facebook groups recently. It’s become the new trend actually, and I wonder what lies at the heart of it.
Here’s an example of the groups ONE person joined:
- Saying “What?” and then immediately realising what they’ve just said
- It Sounded Funnier In My Head
- ”Im Angry At You Stop Making Me Laugh”
- PAREF KIDS, I PROMISE MYSELF TO STUDY IN 10 MINUTES BUT I END UP NOT STUDYING AT ALL.
- I believe the word ‘studying’ was derived from the words ‘students dying’
- We Used To Talk For Hours On End And Now It’s Like We Never Knew Each Other
- If 1,170,000 People Join, My Girlfriend Will Marry Me!
- Remember back in the day before Facebook when we all had a life
- COCKROACHES = the enemy
- I Hate The Little Triangle That Is Never Wiped By The Windscreen Wiper
- she’s my best friend, break her heart and i’ll break your face
- Re-reading txt messages to make myself feel happy again
- I love the smell when an aircon gets turned on
- I enjoy pushing in the buttons on the lids of McDonalds cups
- No Matter How Hot It Is, I Cant Sleep Unless A Lil Bit Of Blanket Is On Me
- You get excited over a friend request, it turns out to be someone shit
- I SAID DON’T TELL!! SO WHY THE FUCK DOES EVERYONE KNOW!?!?
- It blew my mind to know “Jackson” from Hannah Montana is 30 years old
- I Use my Cell Phone to See in the Dark
- In 2013 I will watch 2012 and laugh
- How is Mr. Krab’s daughter a Whale?
- I Delete the whole Password when i type a Single letter Wrong
- We Condemn The Maguindanao Massacre & Demand Justice For The Victims
- You’re online and i want to talk to you, BUT im not saying hi first
- Don’t complain about grading 140 essays over the weekend, you assigned it
- Petition for Alex Esguerra to make a Facebook Account
- I save song title’s in my phone as drafts so that I can download them later
- FLINCHING IN BED COZ YOU HAD A DREAM YOU WERE FALLING
- After Joining Hundreds Of Groups, I Realise That I Appreciate A Lot In Life
I can’t help but find all of this amusing, of course. Cute even. But hence the paradox of the Internet age: You are connected to everyone but you are a part of nothing. Think about that for a moment.
There is no question that one function technology has for the younger members of the net generation is to seek out people who share their interests and aspirations. Fostering a sense of belonging is important; receiving affirmation even more so.
Having said that, I am tempted to conduct a little social experiment. I’ll put up some groups and see which ones garner the most members. Here are some ideas –
My vote goes to New Moon, because almost everyone agrees that it sucks.
Pun not intended. My bad.
Hmm. That sounds like a better group. “New Moon sucks. Pun not intended.”
“You are connected to everyone but you are a part of nothing.” WTF. Tanga ka ba? O hindi ka lang talaga naging teenager for once in your life? Di ba yun naman talaga ang nature ng teenager? May desire maging part ng isang group. Yung feeling na nagbebelong ka para lang maging comfortable para sayo. PINAPKITA LANG NG BAGONG TECHNOLOGY AT GROUPS ANG NATURE NG TEENAGERS NA MATAGAL NANG NANDYAN. Hindi mo kailangan ipamudmod sa mukha ng tao yung mga bagay na alam na namin. O baka naman dahil ngayon mo lang nadiscover to? O di naman kaya nafefeel mo na sobrang talino mo dahil sa mga pinagsasasabi mo?
You’re right, F.U. (Actually, it’s F.Y. if you think about it.) The technology is manifesting old and expected behaviors in new ways, and I find that interesting. Thanks!
My favorite group would be A NUMBER OF PEOPLE ARBITRARILY DISSATISFIED WITH SOMETHING MUNDANE DEMANDING TO CHANGE IT
Like the absence of an UNLIKE button? That one never ends.
“You are connected to everyone but you are a part of nothing.”
Don’t pass judgment so quickly. That person, as well as others who might be invested heavily in those groups, contributing to meaningful discussion and group action to further their agendas.
Not a judgment, Brandon. An observation. It has been seen that though the Internet has increased connectivity, a lot of the “relationships” established online are tenuous at best. Real linkages and partnerships exist of course, but not the same can be said of the Facebooker with 1000 friends with only 5% being the actual people he knows, and so on. Joining online advocacies and petitions is another. It is so easy to sign-up now that one’s form of protest tends to end with that very sign up, without any work on the ground to back up their “conviction”.
The logic is very similar to the old adage, “Jack of all trades, but master of none.”
That said, I shall now phrase it as, “Connected to everyone, but part of none.” More slogany.
Im all for connecting with people but i think the shallowness of this “connection” or “sense of belonging” that anyone gets from a majority of these groups can be extremely pathetic if taken too seriously.
Kinda like people buying into a fortune teller’s very generic and common predictions. Aha! I breathe! Me Too! Lets form a group!
But i would definitely join New Moon is ‘meh”. Hell ill donate if you make it the “Two Girls One Cup” is better than the Twilight series.