Facebook has invaded the computer screens of over 500 million people, and an estimated 250 million of those people access the network every day. With over 2000 employees in 15 countries, Facebook is a well-equipped empire employing some of the most brilliant computer science and mathematics technicians as well as the savviest businessmen. The site attracts its users with its capacity to share information through personal profiles, communicate with other users from near and far, view online media, and experiment with applications such as Compare People. It is so easy to get sucked into the Facebook world—but that’s just the problem.
The news feed column on the Facebook home page displays the latest information from a user’s online friends. Without any action from the individual, the home page continuously refreshes itself offering the viewer a new link to click. The news feed, depending on the Facebook settings, is governed by a complex algebraic formula which tracks whose profiles one visits and who one contacts. Facebook’s home page, with its careful sampling of the user’s friends, is like a red wine lover at a wine tasting convention with samples of the ‘98 Petrus Merlot and the best ‘91 cabernet. With a window to the video and music uploads of ones best friends and the spring break photos of ones love interest, even those who only have a few minutes to spend on the site end up climbing into the online playground of profile viewing, posting, and updating as time passes on.
Because of its massive popularity, Facebook offers its users something that the mobile phone and the post office do not—the ability to keep in touch with people from other countries without having to spend a dime (beyond the sunk cost of a computer and Internet connection). It has revolutionized communication by allowing users to freely and easily exchange media, documents, and other attachments as well as comment on such items either publicly via a wall post or privately by a message. Especially after moving to a new area or taking on a new job, using Facebook may facilitate the adjustment process, helping one meet and befriend neighbors or co-workers. Considering these benefits, the Facebook explosion should not be surprising or rejected. Instead, we should consider how to keep the explosion under control, because right now we’re on delicate ground.
The creative features of Facebook are carefully designed to entice users into spending more time on the website than they intend. In one month, Facebook digests 700 billion minutes of its users’ time. In other words, on average, each user keeps the Facebook tab on his computer open for 47 minutes in one day.
The only way to control the time we spend on Facebook, and to slowly bring that 47 minutes down to an average of 15 or 20 is to log out! Each time we log on and browse the day’s news feed, we increase our dependency on the infinite pages of Facebook.
Perhaps if not for Facebook, the 500 million of us would find another distraction from psychology essays, afternoon jobs, or household chores. But shooting the tiny orange basketball into the mini basketball hoop at the top of the office door eventually gets boring, and the same goes for putting a golf ball into a glass jar or painting fingernails three different colors. It’s hard to resist viewing images of the hottest pixilated princes on the Facebook network, the profiles of the queen bees from your high school, or your best friend’s activities to make sure they’re not posting on others people’s walls more than yours. The best response to Facebook’s craftiness is to fulfill the craving and then move on to the next activity. Facebook is not all bad, but the loss of 47 minutes a day—time that could be spent far more productively—is surely something to reconsider.
Boticelli is a member of the class of 2013.
Leave a Reply