James Jone
20 November 2013
Scholarly Presentation In the Fall 2013 scholarly presentation, “Our Two-Face(book) World” by Kathryn Coleman a professor at College of the Canyons, a sociological discussion about the positive and detrimental effects of social media, particularly Facebook, can have on many people. The presentation began with a social media timeline rooted from 1920 up until present day jumping 5-10 years for every significant year that had an impact on the society we live in today. Several points and facts were stated throughout Coleman’s presentation, pointing out the benefits of Facebook and unfortunately the social disintegration of it as well. Facebook holds 1.11 billion active users and what keeps Facebook standing so tall is the billions of dollars worth of revenue they are receiving due to advertisements. By agreeing to the terms and services when we first sign up, we are essentially signing our virtual rights away so that our IP content is no longer private and anything we post is no longer our property. Although, this may seem overwhelming and difficult to process, there still lies one side of the issue, the advantage of Facebook. For example, Coleman mentioned the Hurricane Sandy page, which was created for victims of the hurricane to post cries for help when they had lost cell service and resulted in 911 using the page as assistance. It also keeps users up to date with current pop-culture, politics, and even taking away the forgetfulness of birthdays. The other side of the issue focuses on the virtual world vs. the real world. Following, poking, and befriending have completely different meanings in both worlds, and when taken too seriously in the virtual world it creates a “bureaucratization of friendship” in reality. The consequences of this issue causes users to track and count their friends taking away any kind of real quality from a friendship and focusing strictly on the quantity. Another disadvantage of Facebook is the sexualization of girls being celebrated, and in this presentation, it was girls under the age of 18, putting themselves in positions of being cyber-bullied or even harassed. The heavier a consumer is in social media the more likely they will feel less socially involved because throughout life many seek for “solitude” but social media creates “isolation,” making it harder and harder to find our true inner selves. As William Shakespeare once wrote, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players…” Essentially, many users are just actors and actresses, showing their friends what they want them to see, and not what goes on behind stage. Users tend to put on social masks in order to portray the best version of them and in return they only see the best version of others; therefore, a lack of self-esteem and depression is created. A constant competition of attention is also created in our own minds, taking away the true reality of the matter. Coleman concluded that there is a way to “rehumanize ourselves” and that is through consumer literacy and becoming aware. Some of the things social media users can practice is realizing and becoming aware that free social networks are never actually free, dismantle thinking ones social worth can be measured by the virtual representation of ones self, speak out against posting inappropriate behavior on social media, and use social media as a social enhancement tool rather than an actual life enhancement. Once the criteria are met, one can finally hold a social media freedom.