man this capitalism thing is rigged

Lafayette,

I agree with much of what you said but would like to add my own two cents. It
is true that the human need “to belong” is the primary purpose of most social
networking sites such as Facebook, but that alone doesn’t explain why millions
- everyone from my 6 year old niece to my 64 year old mother - are on it.

Part of it is the issue of mobility in our culture. It’s not new, it began a few
generations ago, but it’s become much more common. Our real social networks
are unstable. Friends go off to college, move for new job opportunities and
many more reasons so we turn to virtual social networks to keep in touch.

That is how it begins…

The trouble is when narcissism kicks in. In a society where many lives are in a
rut, the opportunity to be the center of attention is very alluring. We may not
find much satisfaction in our jobs or community involvement (more often a lack
of community involvement) so we seek out justification and engagement here
online such as this comment thread. We can preach to our choir on politics and
social issues, post pictures of our “exciting lives”, comment on the topics of the
day and receive feedback - a “favorite”, “like”, “thumbs up” or whatever that
said site offers.

So, it goes beyond just a sense of belonging and really becomes a validation of
our greater importance. For some it can become a compulsion, an addiction to
be important. In our real life few people notice us but online we can be popular.

My fear is that it is creating a general apathy to “off-line” life. That people feel
everything can be solved online. When reality is a bummer, they can find
companionship, community and support online leading them to be distracted
from the real problems or worse, caught up in a rejection of reality.

This is a large part of why once fringe elements of society are rearing their
heads in mainstream culture. Some of this is good. For minority groups like
LGBT teens suffering from bullies they have places they can go online to feel
accepted. But it’s also dangerous in cases like the resurgence of the
Aryan/Patriot/militia movement. And, it does make us easy targets for
marketers selling everything from sodas to wars.

So, the sense of belonging is where it stems from, but that is actually a good
thing. We should all want to belong to our community. The trouble is when it
becomes a narcissistic obsession with validation and a distraction from our
reality.

There is no sign of Facebook going out.