[Scotty]

He posited a point, and had no evidence to back it up.  If you bring it up, back it up.  Burden of proof is on him.

[Pred the Penguin]

I think this is a matter of perspective, not everyone uses the Internet in same way, as is very evident in this thread.

I'm not anti-social per say, but I limit my social contact to close friends and I tend to veiw Facebook and IM as very tedious. I wouldn't even be on Hard-Light if I weren't interested in FS.

I prefer talking to people face to face, that way I can better gauge their reactions, which I think is a result of my experiences.

[Nuke]

i dont see no point in social networking myself. i am completely antisocial, but i wont delude myself by creating an online personality different from my own on a social network. i visit less than 3 websites a day, this is the only forum i frequent, i may have 2 chat rooms i go to and then only rarely. i dont use social networking at all. i mostly use the internet as a technical reference. im worse in rl. i have nothing but contempt and hatred for others i may run into, including members of my own family. i can accomplish more in isolation than i could ever do among others.

social networking was meant as a tool to be used by people who already have active social lives. those who have no social life to manage have no buisness using social networking. they may do so, creating an image of themselves as how they wish to be seen. its a delusion. it may be helpful or it may not. i wouldn't go and say that social networking would take a normal person and turn them into a raving lunatic, but it could under the right conditions take someone with a shaky social standing and make their situation worse.

[Dilmah G]

i wouldn't go and say that social networking would take a normal person and turn them into a raving lunatic, but it could under the right conditions take someone with a shaky social standing and make their situation worse.

I can vouch for this personally. Almost destroyed the life of a guy in my year at school who fits that bill perfectly.

[Mobius]

Joshua and Scotty, how am I supposed to redirect your attention to such studies? I heard psychologists discussing the matter on various radio and TV channels, and their explanations were quite good. Heh, you don't even need those studies to realize that e-life is absolutely fake, and people cannot survive with it.

Another drawback of e-life: you learn things from the internet, only, and studies don't count unless they've been posted somewhere.

[The E]

Yes, well, that's because most such studies can be found on the net. Maybe behind a paywall, but on the net nonetheless. What you are presenting is anecdotal evidence (your own experiences) and hearsay (something you remember hearing on the radio once). Neither of which is a very good basis for any sort of argument.

[Mobius]

Studies you can find on the net aren't any more credible than those you can get to know elsewhere, and I find them more genuine. Also, don't forget that we live in different countries with different cultures, different interests and different concerns. Italians are ranked high in the list of Facebook (ab)users, so don't be surprised if the FB issue has little to no importance elsewhere. Also, let's forget my own experience because losing a habit absolutely isn't a social catastrophe.

Not a good basis of any sort of argument? "Facebook is an illusion, go out if you can and (re)build a true social life" is not the kind of phrase you don't remember.

[General Battuta]

For the 99% of the world that is sane and not some kind of weird spergy, Facebook serves as a way to organize events in your real social life and is thus pretty much just a great thing.

Anyone who has social problems due to Facebook should probably seek help

[Mobius]

We already said FB has its uses and makes many aspects of life easier. It's the abuse that damages people.

[The E]

Not a good basis of any sort of argument? "Facebook is an illusion, go out if you can and (re)build a true social life" is not the kind of phrase you don't remember.

Yes. Simple messages are easily remembered. That doesn't make them true.

That statement, while certainly catchy, does not carry as much weight as a properly peer-reviewed, published study that shows the differences. Even a precis showing that such a study exists, and a little overview over the results carries more weight.

See, what I believe is that opinions like yours are a sign of living in deep future shock. You condemn certain forms of interaction as "not real", simply due to your inability or unwillingness to understand them, or the people who use them. You are certainly correct when saying that online interaction is missing several layers of nonverbal communication that are present in RL interactions, but I submit to you that that may not be such a bad thing, especially when communicating across cultural barriers.

[Mobius]

I thought it wasn't the case of even searching a study on the internet because I thought it was common knowledge that real social life is better than virtual life, and that FB is an illusion if abused.

[The E]

I thought it wasn't the case of even searching a study on the internet because I thought it was common knowledge that real social life is better than virtual life, and that FB is an illusion if abused.

"Common knowledge" is a starting point for scientific inquiry, but not a substitute.

[General Battuta]

Facebook can be abused just like anything else (what can't be abused, including irl socialization? look at dekker). If you're the kind of person who can't control yourself on Facebook you have deeper problems and it's not Facebook's fault

in conclusion The Social Network is a great ****ing movie

[Polpolion]

I thought it wasn't the case of even searching a study on the internet because I thought it was common knowledge that real social life is better than virtual life, and that FB is an illusion if abused.

Except "virtual" implies that it's a simulation and not real, and my activity on HLP for the past five years and activity on Facebook for the past two are both very real. Certainly activity online is no substitute for IRL socialization, but that doesn't mean that online socialization is "worse" that IRL socialization.

[Mika]

I don't participate in social media on the grounds that I don't need it. Several of my colleagues do though, but research work that requires concentration while blabbering in Messenger doesn't work with me.

The big question for me is: is the personality you see in the internet the actual unmasked personality that is not tied by laws or not? With (usually) no fear of retribution, do people behave more as they would like to behave?

Beware of the Facebook though, I have shot down at least one person's application for work simply by the stuff what I found in his Facebook pages.

[StarSlayer]

I'm not much into using the 'puter' for social networking but I'm under the impression it's meant to augment not replace real world interaction.

[Jeff Vader]

Just quickly saying that if some people get problems because of Facebook and other related services, those people are likely to be similar to the ones who start shooting at cars because they've played GTA: there was already something wrong with those people.

[Nuke]

you can say the same thing about something like alcoholism. some would like to believe that alcoholism is a disease in and of itself. of course im of the opinion that it is not a disease but a symptom of a much more deep seeded mental problem. give people a means of escape, and those that think they need to get away, will use it.

[Pred the Penguin]

Isn't the real problem not people using sites like Facebook to supplement social interactions, but people that only socialize via the web?
Or was that what you guys were discussing?

Facebook can be abused just like anything else (what can't be abused, including irl socialization? look at dekker). If you're the kind of person who can't control yourself on Facebook you have deeper problems and it's not Facebook's fault

in conclusion The Social Network is a great ****ing movie

I didn't think I would like it, but its actually a great movie.

[Mobius]

Isn't the real problem not people using sites like Facebook to supplement social interactions, but people that only socialize via the web?

That's the real problem, sure, but that doesn't mean a bad mix of the two can be good.

Or was that what you guys were discussing?

Well, not at the beginning of this thread. You can notice a lot of optimism in that blog entry, but if anyone claims the world is so much better now under all points of view, I'm going to disagree with that.