Facebook is a social, cultural and technological phenomenon like no other. With over six hundred million users worldwide, the social networking site seems to be on the verge of taking over the entire world. From a sociological perspective, the consumption patterns associated with the website are fascinating. Current user demographics dictate that Facebook manages to transcend all ties of class, gender, and ethnicity. Also, the idea that the site is predominantly marketed to 18-24 year olds (i.e. college students) has now been completely transformed. In a recent study, it was confirmed that almost 75% of Facebook users belong to age ranges that are above or below young adulthood. With very little sign that this trend is going to decline, the implications this website has on the social world are sure to be monumental.
Unsurprisingly, social scientists now claim that we are already dealing with the implications of rampant social media. Questions speculating about how systems of interaction change within an age dominated by “computer-mediated communication” have now become an emerging topic within the academy. The ‘cyberpsychologist’, Carlyne Kujath, argues that the prevalence of social media has supplemented (rather than replaced) face-to-face social interaction. According to Kujath, most interpersonal relationships are still instigated within ‘offline’ social circumstances. The main utility of social networking sites is solely to solidify these already existing relationships, within a space that is easily accessible to all of its constituent members, regardless of their geographical position. Under these conditions, friendship groups are maintained and advanced through online communication. Ergo, the implications of social media are arguably beneficial in potentially helping ‘long-lost friends’ keep in touch with each other. While this attribute of the ‘Facebook phenomenon’ is certainly laudable, we are left wondering how real-life sociability has been qualitatively affected by the ubiquity of ‘computer-mediated communication’.
However, Max Weber’s classical sociology can provide insight into this currently under-investigated area. For Weber, modern society is characterized by rationality and scientific reasoning. The verifications that support this argument are observable within the social omnipresence of bureaucratic structures. Placed in such conditions, human beings are effectively ‘pieces of the machine’, so that notions related to autonomy, mysticism and creativity are almost non-existent. As a result of this highly rationalized order, the “de-magialization” (or “disenchantment”) of social life takes shape. Here, as society becomes more scientific in its thinking, elements related to mystery and wonder (ie religion, romance, art, etc.) become less important in the modern world. But wait a minute: – What the hell does this have to do with Facebook? And how has the social networking site contributed to the so-called “de-magicalization” of social life? The answers to both questions stem from the fact that Facebook is rationalistic. The organization itself operates on a centralist paradigm; ensuring that no user violates the rules that he has imperatively established. Within this bureaucratic setup, people’s friendship groups are stored within an abstract system over which no ordinary human being has control (think of the abundance of statuses that vent some sort of frustration with Facebook by changing their site settings). Web). However, user demographics suggest that few people are put off by Facebook’s bureaucratic structure. Rather, people are actually complicit in giving this website carte blanche to quantitatively restructure their share capital. As a result, social network users are becoming more rationalistic in the way they interact with their friends. For example, friendships are formed on Facebook through sent friend requests. Here, the recipient accepts or ignores these potential friendships as methodically as a worker on an assembly line. In addition, within cyberspace, Facebook users are constantly updated on the lives of their friends. If a person also wants to know what a friend has been up to, he or she can casually scan through the friend’s ‘wall posts’ and pictures, and efficiently quell their curiosity on the spot. According to recent research on the subject, the average Facebook user visits the website six times a day. In these circumstances, people become less mysterious and more familiar. Such revelations will contribute significantly to the banality of social life. Consequently, the quality of our daily conversations will be tremendously diluted by the excess of social networks.
Forgive me for painting such a pessimistic picture, but since time immemorial it has been an anthropological truism that social beings became and maintained friendships through verbal communication. However, thanks to the proliferation of social networks, we now live in a society where, for the first time, we can become friends with a person without even getting to know them. I’m pretty sure we all know of a romantic relationship that developed on Facebook. But is this truly romantic; magical; or charming? Meeting your potential life partner by becoming your “Facebook stalker”? Yes, it certainly is easier and faster (ie more rational) than the ‘traditional’ model of social interaction. But when it has been claimed that computer-mediated communication is currently outpacing real-world interaction, the need to critically review the implications of the Facebook phenomenon has never been more relevant. I really prefer sociability in the days before Facebook. But it seems that the effects of social networks are too much in progress to be reversed. However, according to neo-Weberian George Ritzer, we can resist social disenchantment by “taking on the machine.” This probably requires less time spent on social networking sites, along with more face-to-face interaction.
However, being more inclined to the macrosociological tradition, I myself hope that more qualitative changes will take place through social networks. Under these circumstances, Facebook will be an integral figurehead in the ‘de-magicalization’ of social life. Thank you very much Mark Zuckerberg.
