On Facebook, Again

"Whatcha got ain't nothin new. This country's hard on people, you can't stop what's coming, it ain't all waiting on you.

That's vanity."

- No Country for Old Men


Clare says:
god! you're not caving and getting an account, are you?

the magellanic clouds says:
no...
im too stubborn to fall that easily
come on.
but i have been thinking abt that whole issue.
because i realise that, ignoring all my morality-talk about how facebook offends my delicate sensibilities blah blah...
what im really doing is choosing to step out of my... generation
our zeitgest
our time in history
because i get it now, all this is never going to go away, social networking, its changed human life irrevocably..

Clare says:
that's.. putting it mildly.

the magellanic clouds says:
like, yknow, the electric lightbulb or something.
and as much as the french snobbishly disapproved of electric light, and calling it "the fleshless flame" and stuff,
in the end they had to suck it up and accept that it was part of the world from then on
yknow? ive been trying to think of more examples

Clare says:
right.

the magellanic clouds says:
the worst (as in the one that makes me feel the worst) is that im like some fucking creationist, yknow?
still denying natural selection, and after so many years
like, hello! get with it!
just completely in denial about the world they live in
i mean its a joke
i dont wanna be a joke.
so the question is should i continue to distance myself from our place in time
that never ends well, at least in movies.
thats what no country for old men was all about, anyway
im the old man
sorry to go on like this at you

Clare says:
no, it's welcome.
have you come to a conclusion?

the magellanic clouds says:
no, ive been meaning to ask people's opinions

Clare says:
what exactly about facebook do you object to?

the magellanic clouds says:
mmm. thats not that easy a question anymore
i guess i dont like the ability to be a total voyeur?
id rather not know about everyone else
and id rather they not know about me
i know, i know, i dont have to do all of that
thats what everyone says
but i know that i.. will..?

Clare says:
or that you could?

the magellanic clouds says:
exactly
i dont wanna be one of them.
those facebook-users.
using it for everything, all the time.
to spy on people!

Clare says:
not everyone does that though
do you think you're that likely to descend into that?

the magellanic clouds says:
but anyway i realise that this is the information age. this is the world we live in now. everyone can potentially know everything about everyone.
no, i dont know..
thats where it gets tricky
i think, maybe i shld just get it and not do all those things
but then i think, why get it at all, then
and then i think well there ARE times when i wish i had it
when, yknow, you know someone only a little but wanna get to know them better and whatever

Clare says:
well.. i personally find it makes contacting people much easier. fb message and shit. and for organising events/outings.
that's all i use it for, really.

the magellanic clouds says:
yeah

Clare says:
well, whatever. i don't know. i suppose it's only as big a deal as you make it out to be, and however big the deal you want it to be is completely fine.

the magellanic clouds says:
right. yeah.
and mostly im just a stubborn idiot
but, yknow. ive just been seeing all this in a new light over the past week.
realising that my old argument "ive survived all these years without fb, why wldnt i be able to survive into the future without it?" doesnt really hold water
that was a stupid thing to think all along
life changes. the definition of surviving changes.
dont you hate that, when you realise your arguments are bullshit?