Leaving Facebook

TITLE ON BLACK: '2 A.M. - ANYWHERE'

                                                                                                                                  DISSOLVE TO:

INT. FACEBOOK HOME PAGE - NIGHT

It is the kind of website where the bored and aimless folks of the United States go to find meaning - or procrastinate. Lesser-known uses like activism and political debate are left to other countries.

Onto this website comes LYNNE.

She is in her early forties, although people are often shocked that she is actually that old as she looks (and sometimes acts!) considerably younger.  It doesn’t matter what she is wearing in the physical world, but let’s say a tank top and pajama bottoms, because in the virtual world the only image that can be seen is the 16 year old headshot that adorns her profile page. She hasn't showered in the last twenty-four hours (but as far as she knows neither have any of the other people on Facebook). She is a good-looking woman but is clearly in trouble of some kind. Although still in control of her faculties, it becomes clear that she is much the worse for wear from being in a PhD program for the past 2 years.

She scrolls through the news feed until she sees something of interest from a FB ‘friend’. The item of interest is a silly photo of a cat with a clever, somewhat intellectual caption. She laughs superficially. Then she reads a post from someone she went to high school with, whom she hasn’t seen since said high school’s graduation, about what seemingly crazy and adorable thing their children had done that day.  And then another post with blatantly conservative and religious overtones...  And then another...

She gulps it all in, grasping for meaning and clawing for some sort of connection to humanity in her isolation.

And yet, with all the clawing and grasping, the meaninglessness and isolation are as fulfilled as one’s stomach is after eating cotton candy...

She sighs.  Turns off her computer...

                                                                  

                                                                                                                                  FADE TO BLACK:

INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT

Lynne is asleep.  She dreams…

                                                                                                                                                 JUMP TO:

INT. BEDROOM – MORNING

Lynne wakes up.  She remembers very little about what she read on Facebook the night before…other than that she spent time reading…something.

She gets up from bed, turns on her computer, and immediately checks her Facebook page…

                                                                                                                                                 THE END.

Let’s be perfectly clear, from the moment I first joined Facebook I didn’t really like it.  It was one of those silly moments in life when I was a lemming.  A friend had sent me an invite sometime in 2007.  I didn’t really know what it was and didn’t really see the harm in joining.  And truthfully, I don’t think any truly lasting damage has been done by the past 4 years of exposure…but we will have to wait and see what all future repercussions may arise. 

Upon first joining FB, old college friends began to come out of the woodwork.  Fine.  Great in fact!  People with whom I had lost touch but was glad to have the opportunity to reconnect.  Then that stopped.  Then there was the first ex-boyfriend.  Uh-oh.  Finally, there was an influx of people from high school ‘friending’ me.  People I sort of knew, people I didn’t really remember at all, people who had disliked me.  I certainly have scars from my teenage years (don’t we all) but I don’t hold any grudges against any one particular person, so please don’t take this the wrong way, but why do you all care about what I’m doing now?  I don’t really care what you’re doing now, no offense.  Perhaps some minor curiosity but not enough to seek you out.  What is the point?  And then it hit me actually back in 2008 when I’d been on FB for about a year…I was actually back in high school again.  It was all a popularity contest.  Well, what can you expect from a socially inept, unpopular – albeit incredibly intelligent – Harvard undergrad boy who wanted the girls to like him…or alternately wanted to get back at all the girls who didn’t like him.

I am not passing judgment on anyone person in particular.  It’s more the pack mentality with which I take issue. 

FB friends who are also friends in the physical world, have lobbed arguments at me about how FB has started revolutions and how it’s a good way to stay in touch with family when you are far away.  I agree.  FB has started revolutions…but not here.  And for those with large extended families, I can see how it would be a central location to stay in touch…but that doesn’t apply to me.  So what was the point.  Posting updates about what I had for breakfast this morning?!  Who cares?!  I don’t’ even care…unless it was an incredibly memorable breakfast.  Like the exquisite chocolate croissants I had when I was in Paris.  And I can’t get those here.

As the spoof (based on Leaving Las Vegas in case the connection is too subtle) above shows I have found that my encounters on Facebook are as meaningful as cotton candy is nourishing.  While I made attempts to post articles and ideas that might provoke an online conversation or even debate, the attempts were rarely met with enthusiasm, meaning very rarely did people comment.  The comments tended to flow like a river after a dam has been removed on those posts that were silly and banal. The isolation that I feel while getting my PhD, away from NYC and my physical social community has not been alleviated by being on Facebook.  If anything, it made me feel more isolated. 

I want the things I spend as much time as I had been spending on FB to be beneficial and memorable. The bottom line is: I want the meaning in my life to be lasting…