Facebook habits
I was chatting to someone the other day about Facebook and the amount of time it takes to keep current with updates, etc., and it occurred to me as I was talking to them that my habits may not reflect those of others. Facebook takes very little of my time, but there is a huge payback for the brief time I do invest in it.
It seems to me that some folks seem to live on Facebook. I can only assume that they’re connecting in through a phone, otherwise I’m very concerned for their health if they’re chained to their computer 24/7!
I myself ONLY use Facebook (and Twitter) on my iPhone. I seldom use a computer to connect in. Updates are done quickly through email (to both services), and I scan through updates and other goings-on very quickly perhaps once or twice a day, and I love that the iPhone app allows me to skim through and keep up in that way. In a way, because it’s only my phone that I use to access these sites, I think it operates as a bit of a filter because I only tend to drop in when I have a spare moment here and there, and when I’m at my computer I am focused on real work. I am not sitting glued to Facebook all day long.
Facebook has provided me with some unique insights into the lives of a bunch of people in my life and beyond. Some of that is just pure gold in terms of being able to keep up with what is happening in people’s lives, some of it is just hilarious with some of the very witty banter, and some is profoundly disturbing to watch some folks play out their life dramas in an abbreviated kind of soap opera of text bites, crying out for attention in some terribly unhealthy (and perhaps even dysfunctional) ways. Still, on the whole, Facebook (and Twitter) have helped me have a deeper ambient awareness of what is going on, and tools like this are certainly changing the way we relate to others.