Thursday, April 22, 2010

Is Facebook creating a temptation generation?

From a fascinating new column by Mel Layos in The Christian Science Monitor on the appeal of Facebook:
The temptation to let others know how happy or sad we feel, and more important, the numerous supportive messages we'll receive from our "friends," is an exercise in deferred gratification that we all lose on a daily basis. And who's to blame us? With its complicated algorithms and formulas, Facebook takes the legwork out of friendship. Do you know Bob? Why not send a friend request to his girlfriend Jane? You haven't talked to Lee in a while. Maybe you should send him a message.

Why go through the trouble of going out and cultivating one new friendship when Facebook lets you meet and befriend hundreds in less time than it takes to watch an episode of "Jersey Shore"?

Every day many people do choose the hundreds of online friends over that one real friend. And what's truly sad is what we're teaching our nation's younger, more impressionable generation. Those born after 1990 have never known a world without the Internet, and it's clear they're fully ingrained in the culture of "right now."
Read the full column at the link below:

Is Facebook creating a temptation generation? / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

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