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Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 11:55AM There was a time when religion was considered as the opium for the masses. “Religion is the opium of the people“, so said Karl Marx. Welcome to the new world where social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, Orkut etc are now the new opium for the netizens!
If the first thing you want to do when you wake up in the morning, is to log in to your Facebook account and see how many Likes / Comments you have received (or not), then rest assured – you are hooked!
Don’t plan to shave today? Do you tweet about it and tell your 1000 odd followers who don’t know you, that you don’t plan to shave today? Or does it give you a mild depression when no one reply to a particular status of your’s … Or maybe you feel exhilarated when you get re-tweeted maybe 8 times! … Perhaps you are having dinner with your friends and you end up telling your Facebook followers how good the hotel ambiance is, rather than sharing it with your table companions; or then again, you are on a trip and your primary concern is not enjoying the scenery but taking out a picture and uploading it to your Facebook account, so that you can check up the next day how many ‘Likes’ you’ve received.
If all this is happening to you…then you are hooked, trust me!
Riding initially on the need to share, social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter have grown phenomenally. With over 750 million users (June 2011), Facebook is clearly leading the pack. Not even Mark Zuckerberg in his wildest dreams may have imagined that Facebook would be so popular in times to come.
Being connected to your favourite social site at all times, has become a must for such. And you feel insecure if you have to disconnect for some reason. For you, staying connected could well be compared to being connected to a womb via the umbilical cord and disconnecting or going offline would be a rather disconcerting thought.
Some parts of the world, especially the western world, are seeing marriage or family as an institution crumbling and it is not uncommon to see singles staying all alone. And the need to share is one of the most basic of human needs. If it’s not this, the need to be part of the social web due to peer groups pressure, just makes one become a member of these websites.
No denying, the social web plays a very useful role in keeping people connected. From finding old friends, building new associations, promoting new ventures, using them as a marketing tool, causing upheavals in Egypt, recruitment and more – they have a great value.
No denying that!
The disturbing trend is that people have started to think that being active on social networking sites is being social, whereas the truth is far from it. Sitting in front of computers, most of 24/7, chatting with ‘friends’ (who may not be what they seem) does take away the social skills and graces which may be required to actually interact with real life people. Security and Privacy concerns apart, some tend to share things with people who one normally should not.
And smartphones have only increased the dependency on social networks. Their effects at home, at work and at school are all too obvious!
It has already been proven that Facebook addiction causes anxiety and depression, especially in youngsters. How often do we see them going out – playing or socializing? Or do we see them more often crouched in front of their computers spending time creating good profiles, publishing status updates or feeding imaginary cows?
Maybe the day won’t be far that we have de-addiction camps for Facebook and Twitter addicts! Such camps for gaming/internet addiction already exist!
I am aware that mine is a minority view, but if you think you are spending too much time on and giving too much importance to Facebook, Twitter or any other social site, maybe for once, you want to shut off your computer, keep your smart phone at home, go take a walk and think about it.
Disconnect yourself from the net and go meet a real friend for change – and see how it feels! The idea is to strike a balance and get a real life too!
Remember, the only thing we shouldn’t be able to live without is Jesus.
Reader Comments (2)
I'm a big fan of most of Marx's writings, so I often get irked when people misquote or misinterpret him. It seems like every day I encounter someone misusing his opium/religion comparison, and it is a shame, because it's one of the more beautiful passages on religion and its societal importance that I know.
The error people often make is associating opium (as far as its use in this passage) with addiction, rather than its fantasy-inducing, painkilling, medical usage. Religion/opium, according to Marx, creates "illusory happiness" that hides from view the lack of "real happiness." And who can be blamed for seeking this illusory happiness? Calling for people to "give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions." Who asks a patient in pain to give up his morphine without first ridding him of his pain!?
So... while what you're suggesting about Social Networks (that they disconnect us from reality) does fall in line with the spirit of Marx's line, it misses the mark in that you're suggesting we'd live more fulfilled lives if we simply gave them up... when, in reality, Marx might say that giving them up will simply reveal us to be exactly what we feared: completely unconnected and alone.
Does this make sense? Sorry! I just wanted to write something and you happened to mention something that I wanted to write about. I'm enjoying your journal, btw!
I am not exactly saying people should completely disconnect from social tools, but more be careful of not being addicted to it and being controlled by it. We should remain in control of everything we use and not let the things we own control us and our lives.
I think human beings were not originaly made to own things, we were created to communicate with other human beings. I love internet, I think Facebook can be great to reconnect with overseas friends, but to me, this is not real life and it will never be. I don't think a human being's communication needs can ever be fulfilled by virtual relationship. The only true relationship, whether it's true friendship or romantic (both driven by Love), is between 2 individuals meeting in person and exchanging information (=communicating).
It's funny because you put on one side "addiction" and on the other one "fantasy-inducing"... Arent's they the same thing? Whether we're talking about hard drugs as opium, or anything else that could become an addiction, it is always "fantasy-inducing", isn't it? Someone who's addicted to TV, is usually living in a fantasy world.
Again, thanks for commenting. Don't stop singing....
I googled your town, it is VERY small!! haha! What do you do in life?
take care
Thierry