You know the feeling when the power goes out and you feel
lost without your computer? That's the feeling I imagine thousands of people
having if all of a sudden Facebook disappeared. Lost with spare time suddenly
at their fingertips wondering
"Hmm what to do with myself?”
Facebook currently the most popular social website is used for lots of
different things by millions of different people. Advertise their business,
find long lost families, organize events, share information and photos, find
contacts and play games. Well that's just half of it really, and I'm sure those
people would recover and find other ways as they have done before.
Nowadays most People pretty much live on their phones,
myself included except for when it's charging and then it's off to the
computer. Technology changes the way we live slightly each day and will
continue to do so. "Back in the day peeps had to walk up stairs, now
there's elevators and escalators. If you wanted to see your friend you would
organize a catch up visit, now it's usually a text, email or message via your
favourite
media site; which is where Facebook comes in. The days
of hanging out with your friends are gone and now it's hanging out on their
timeline.
Most Facebook users are guilty (myself
included) of having some form of mild
Facebook addiction. I'm not talking hand shaking, Facebook A.A, or selling your
grandma for an internet connection. But like it or not, if you use Facebook
there's obvio
usly something you like that keeps you going back. Whether it's status updates, stalking other
peoples photos, spending hours on your favourite bands or business page,
chatting with family or spamming your friends news feeds with 'Duck Faced Selfies'
three times a day.
I'm happy to say I'm not that far gone where I itch or twitch to log on and see
what's going on in the online world, but of course I would be lying if I said
there haven’t been exceptions where I have something super funny I want to
share with my friends or followers straight away. The kids doing something so
funny I'm crying on the floor, or finally getting that forbidden snap shot of
your husband in his cute duck flannies the kids bought him for Father's Day.
Those kinds of things (being biased of course) I class as an exception, they are
too good to not share and aren't the same boring "just having a cup of
tea..." statuses. Seriously, I don’t
understand those who posts those and similar, you’re having a cup
of tea,
and???
So let's break it down...what would people do if Facebook all of a sudden was
no more? Capeesh? Over? Shut down?
1.
Time Wasters – Some people generally would feel a
bit lost, and would all of a sudden have all this extra time on their hands. They
would no doubt try and find something to fill the gap and time with. Facebook anonymous would need to be
formed for those who check it every 28 minutes and help them get back into
normal living. “Facebook, what did we do before Facebook?” My children are the
same if I take their computer or hand held games, they don’t know what to do
with themselves.
 |
My Cat molly has a love hate relationship with
Facebook and my computer |
2.
Friend Collectors – Those 896 friends you collected
aren’t actually your friends! Yes you might know them or went to some way back
event with them, but no you do not have that many real, true and honest
friends! (Don’t worry, neither do I) All of a sudden people would need to
actually leave the house and go and socialize with their friends instead of
just liking their comments.
3.
SElfie Spammers – Who am I g
oing to Selfie spam
now?? People that posts Selfies every half an hour of the same thing (their
face, different angle, different location) drive me batty! Are they completely
vein, seeking attention or simply have no idea? One or two, sure why not…But
when you go through your/someone’s photos and 90% of them are of themselves,
leaning into the camera, half the time pulling some quack duck or kiss face,
well then its classed as Selfie Spam!
4.
Blame Shifters – Fair enough everyone is entitled
to their own opinion, but Facebook cops the blame for a lot of things, which let’s
be honest…. A website can’t do. Divorces and infidelity for example…Facebook didn’t
make your husband or wife leave you, nor did it make them go into the arms of
someone else. They may have used social sites to make it easier, but no one but
themselves is accountable for their actions. People might actually spend time working on their
relationship rather than just blaming it on other things and people when it
goes south.
Cyber Bullying is unfortunately
constantly on social sites such as Facebook, but again it is the people who are
sitting behind the computer, not the website itself.
5.
Gossip Queens, Instigators and Pot Stirrers would
have no one to spread stories about and entertain with. They might even slowly
over time start concentrating on their own lives and business instead of making
everyone else’s their topic of conversation each day. I personally think those
who spend all their time talking about everyone else, much have a fairly boring
life or have nothing better to do. On Facebook especially though, the gossip
queens are kept fueled with things to talk about as to many air their dirty
laundry for all to see.
6.
Memes would have a major downfall! Some memes are
worth seeing and occasionally sharing, but it seems now 90% of my Facebook feed
is memes and commonly the same image but with different words or slogans.
7.
Hackers
would have one less place to try and steal your personal information and photos
from. Social media sites have made it even easier for hackers, especially with
people who aren’t very internet savvy or have the “It won’t happen to me” attitude
and are too lazy to be cautious.
8.
The
Ex Friend or Ex Partner Stalkers – The all too common “I don’t care or see what
you are doing although secretly I am always looking at your page and going
through your photo’s” stalkers! Also known for constantly activating n
de-activating your account to be sneaky and pretend they either don’t have Facebook
anymore or aren’t on your friends list or fan page. I personally have a couple
of these myself, annoying and sly.
The friends in General who constantly deactivate and re-activate their
accounts… make up your mind already!
9. Most things have good and bad points, things that annoy some, or as they say two sides to every story. So here are just a few Good Points of Facebook – If Facebook suddenly shut down, along with the above
points, there would also be a lot of good things that would disappear with it.
-Keeping in contact with long distant family.
-Easy sharing of photos and videos to friends and family.
-Finding people who you have long lost touch with would be more
difficult.
-Free advertising site for pages, businesses, communities and others who
use it.
-Easy access for organizing functions such as reunions, finding out
information such as places, jobs etc. Makes it easier for people to get in
contact and be more aware of organizations such as rescue centres.
-Any of course, things people personally enjoy and use Facebook for.
The above is all obviously based on my own opinion and some of others
through my own questions to others.
Would
it bother you if Facebook suddenly shut down?
