I consider myself an intense Facebook user. My homepage is Facebook and I turn to it when I am bored in the train. It's a good platform for recording our "everyday" and keeping in touch with friends. Once in a so-often while, a juicy debate pops up. It is usually about a controversial topic i.e. should women be blamed for rape if they dress like a slut? or someone would post an alternative viewpoint about the 6.9 million white paper and everyone would jump on the bandwagon to offer their views etc.
I used to jump on such topics with fervour and the rush of replying and "engaging" with strangers in the public is admittedly very invigorating. It makes one feel like you're thinking, and really honing your argumentative skills. It feels better than any tutorial or debate in class, the awesome feeling of looking for like-minded individuals is far beyond any thing you've known. That is after all, the power of social media isn't it?
However, as much as engaging with debates is all of the above, especially when it culminates to finding like-minded individuals to continue the debate over coffee in person. It also has a dark side.
Well, for starters, I am a great believer of energy. What I mean is that the initial rush you feel about something strongly, the passion is something that drives one person to do something. With Facebook, this reaction you get from say, the 6.9 million White Paper, is completely justified and real. However, when you find yourself engaging in debates all the time, getting angry and then expending that energy on a thread of comments, something is amiss there. This is because when we comment on a threat or engage in a debate on Facebook, it gives the illusion that we are doing something with our passions. When in reality, if one takes a look at it in the long term, there really is not productivity achieved except to make you an even angrier person. Why not instead, the time taken to type the well-thought out comment, to then put it in a proposal and try to actually gather some real action there? The answer is perhaps embarrassingly simple, it's far easier to pretend we've contributed our views via an online platform, than to hash out the difficult web of actually making a difference.
Secondly, facebook has a very fast expiry date. Past debates run out of steam very fast simply by the fact that the threads themselves run to the bottom of the list in the matter of days, or hours. Very good threads or comments are "lost" in cyberspace unless one actually screen-shot or keeps detailed records of these views. Why invest close to half an hour to type a good essay only to have it lost in cyberspace in a matter of days. Going back to my previous point, wouldn't it be more sensible to expend that time and energy into trying to make actual difference? Try to talk to your MP, get involved, so research - these actions activate actors who can then truly make material differences.
Lastly, there are honestly, too many idiots out there and not to mention trollers. Some people take the thread too seriously, forgetting that this is after all Facebook. People do not take it as seriously as other outlets of communication. It is different from engaging someone in person. When you debate with someone, the other senses create a far stronger impression than a visual facebook thread ever would. My best memories of conversation happen in real places and the face-to-face communication creates vested interest. There is the unwritten social code of respect, of understanding and decorum. It curbs radicals and trollers. It curbs the worst of irresponsibilities found on online. Your views are important to me (no matter how senseless and idiotic because if you learn from the best, you learn very little), and I want to give you my full attention.
I do not for one, dispute the power of social media - it has brought to light several issues and important information which would have not seen the light otherwise. What I am insisting, that we take it beyond the online platform to translate it to actual action. Take it as a means to meet common-minded people, and perhaps set up a date and decide what you can actually do about it.
Let's go get coffee, and hold discourse with thee.
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