Facebook has only made the world smaller not kinder.

At my second UNIV 101 class we were told by our instructor to form groups of four and decide on an event listed in the Cultural Passport that we would be attending together as a group. Almost immediately we formed our groups and introduced ourselves to each other (only names) and the next thing that I heard from one of my group members was “I’ll find you guys on facebook”. I looked at him with a look that said “hey dude, at least ask me if I am on facebook or not”, but I guess that question is pointless in today’s cyber world. Today, through facebook millions of people around the globe stay connected with eachother. Think of a person whom you haven’t heard from in ages, may be your childhood buddy from primary school whom you played ball with, log in to your facebook account and just “facebook” him or her and what do you have?, you are now connected with him and are ‘catching up’ or have probably made plans to meet over coffee at star bucks over the weekend. And. If you need more company and don’t really remember the names of your classmates back then, search for a group of the school that you attended and a few members’ names might sound familiar to you, you add them, and invite them over for coffee too, and you are in for a class reunion. From your parents, to your teachers and for some even their bosses are on facebook today. Facebook transformed our small world to a tiny world.

A few years back we wanted to look our best in our class photographs, because it was this picture that we would be remembered by a few years down the line by our classmates. Similarly today, we upload our pictures, edit our profiles, write on people’s walls and each time we do so we think what would the hundreds of our friends on facebook think about us when this information pops on their live feed at their facebook homepage. Facebook has made our lives so transparent that the people on our “friend list” are aware of each time we got in and out of a relationship, the party we attended last night and if we got sloshed, our comments on our friend's photos, whom did we super poke, what did we write on whose wall etc. Facebook has become a medium of knowing what your friend back home, a thousand miles away is up to when you are attending college at Drexel. Everyone knows what everyone one is doing. This transparency of facebook has made us more conscious not kindly.

Each time we speak to someone on facebook chat we try our best not to be rude, not because we are kind but because we know that that person is going to be somewhere in college tomorrow and we don’t want him to think that we are a “bitch”. We delete or untag ourselves from our embarrassing pictures where we might be digging our nose. The thing about facebook is that it has linked you with so many people and you want to showcase yourself to be the best. Facebook has made us a celebrity in our friend circles, and just as every celebrity is conscious about how they dress up and what they speak, we are. At facebook, we are just trying to portray ourselves to be someone we are not just because we are conscious, if we are good to people online it’s not because facebook has made us kindly but because we don’t want someone to judge us or form an opinion about us. Facebook has just made our world smaller, it hasn’t made us kinder.