Do Facebook & Twitter Cultivate Community or Personality Disorder?

#1 I Get Jealous

Sure, Facebook is nice, but it makes me feel bad because I see how happy people are and how good everyone else is doing - and I get jealous.

Submitted by Anonymous.

#2 Talking Is Too Boring

I myself am addicted to both Facebook and Twitter, but I find that neither disrupt my ability to socialize with others on a face to face basis. I believe it's because I developed my social skills long before the development of these social networking sites. Both have helped me to reminisce with those whom I have not seen for years or do not see on a regular basis. They are impressive outlets for sharing information and my interests and it never seems to get old.

Unfortunately, I do believe these sites create social disorders among adolescents. They create the ability to communicate while eliminating the anxiety of confrontation and other social issues that people learn to resolve as they mature into adulthood. Body language and facial expressions play such a large role when it comes to communication. These roles are necessities when it comes to marriage, children, and careers. Social networking sites can't replace those roles, and if they ever do how genuine can those relationships really be?

I use Facebook so I can communicate things to a mass of people.

However when I see two girls at Starbucks having a conversation on Facebook while sitting across from each other it makes me wonder, are they just completely intrigued by technology or are they hiding events of their lives they don't others to hear? That's what's so great about texting, Twitter, and Facebook; you can dish to your friends without people over-hearing your conversation, like your parents. I am sure it won't be long before Twitter and Facebook are the new ways to break up with someone. There is no other species on Earth with the ability to communicate the way humans can, but I guess talking is too boring.

Submitted by Damian Trudell, Visit his blog - "My Thoughts"

#3 In Moderation.

I read a short story in college called The Machine Stops. It was about a post apocalyptic society that had completely moved underground and became dependent on “the machine” that provided their every need. Including human interaction via a video phone system. The people had become xenophobic; face to face interactions and contact frightened them. This story was written in 1947, long before the Internet was even conceived.

When thinking about sites like Facebook and Twitter, I reflect upon this story. Wondering if we are heading towards this type of society. Children (and adults) are addicted to these sites and use them to “talk” to their friends and family. Sites like these are fantastic for keeping in touch with family members across state lines. I use them to share pictures and news with my folks in Ohio. In addition, I’ve reconnected with friends from high school and college whom I probably wouldn’t have ever interacted with again had it not been for Facebook.

However as in all things good, it is so in moderation. There are some people who are on these sites too long and lack the social skills necessary when meeting others in public. Technology and sites like this are great tools, but I hope we remember that they’re just that; tools. Let us not become so dependent on them that we forget how to shake hands or talk to a human being.

Submitted by Brian McMeans.

#4 A Bridge To Community

With never-ending, limited-character updates being thrown from a thousand "friends" around the world, Facebook and Twitter can be extremely useful: I found out when my British friends had their second daughter via Facebook – and saved 40 bucks by messaging them instead of a phone call. I’ve seen lively conversations happen between @people @who @don’t @even @know @each other on twitter (not unlike this blog, actually. Hmm…). Facebook, twitter, blogs, etc. find their proper label as “a bridge to community.”

Can social media BE one’s community? No. That would just be sad. If you’re sitting at home watching their lives go by, clicking “refresh” every few moments and making endless comments, you’re kind of stalling out in the middle of the bridge!

But can social media inform community; build community; cultivate community? Absolutely. Without it, I am less connected; more separate from folks. With it, I can follow friends’ travels and life events, know how to pray for them, weep when they weep, be joyful in their joys, read various articles and resources they share, get to know what they care about enough to share with the world, and generally keep up with them. But the bridge is only complete when I move beyond this “information gathering,” and take the next step to engage them. I think this can happen in person, over the phone, on the web, or otherwise.

Case in point from early last week: at 6:40 I tweeted "Headed to see Transformers, Rave at 7; join if you want" (crossing the bridge). At 7:02 I received a text from a friend – who I hadn’t seen in months (pre-bridge): “I’m at the theater, where are you?” (post-bridge). Community cultivated. The end.

Submitted by Ben Connelly, Visit his blog - One Glory

#5 A Community Personality Disorder

I'm not sure I know how to appropriately "use" Facebook and Twitter. Are these internet-based services supposed to help me communicate with people or are they supposed to help other people communicate with me? I know this is really just a semantic difference, but I think semantics are important when we consider the purpose of words and the effects of those words on society and community.

Am I desperately trying to communicate with people - hoping to add meaning to my life? Or am I simply responding to the demands of others who seek my companionship - reluctantly, but nonetheless participating in community?

I think Facebook and Twitter cultivate both community and personality disorder - in all participants, at the same time. Personality disorders are the patterns and adjustments we create in our attempts to "deal with" the world. They are inherently negative. I believe we have collectively developed a "community personality disorder". By this, I mean that our community has developed a pattern of behavior that is not particularly well-suited to what we would consider a "normally functioning" community. It is certainly community - but with a definite personality disorder.

Submitted by Jason L. Buchanan. Visit his Facebook Profile.

#6 As If You Even Care!

I will begin by stating that I am somewhat new to the Facebook culture.

I resisted for a long time, before finally being coaxed in by a family member as an easier way to keep up with each other. It has since become somewhat of an outlet for me, both for entertainment purposes, as well as feeding narcissistic tendencies that I didn’t even know I had! I always want to end my status updates with “as if you even care!”…because I am one of those people who truly does not enjoy announcing every move I make. Those who know me well, know that I keep most of my thoughts and feelings pretty close to the chest, unless asked.

I often wonder if anyone on my friend list actually cares what I’m doing or thinking at that very moment, so there is that moment of hesitation before I post and update... "as if they even care!", I think to myself.

I have found, however, that if used properly, Facebook can be a useful tool for simply maintaining a network amongst friends who might otherwise be lost to each other due to distance or time constraints. The downside is that we are all drawn into the details of each others lives on a level that would not otherwise be possible. As such, I find myself investing myself emotionally in people’s everyday problems and thus stealing some of my attention away from more immediate issues in my own life. “Should I even care?”

Now, on the subject of Twittering… Play by play updates of someone’s grooming, eating, driving, sleeping and working habits? ”I don’t even care!”

Submitted by Mr. E