When The Matrix was released in 1999 it seemed like fantasy. The idea that a computer program would be in control of everything and humans were just the battery cells powering the computer as they were plugged into a virtual reality simulation that occupied their minds seemed unbelieavable. Although this scenario is not something that’s ever likely to occur, sometimes when I look at the evolution of Facebook I wonder if the creators of The Matrix might have had more prescience than we might have otherwise thought possible.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a huge Facebook addict – I generally check it several times per day, using both my computer and my mobile phone to do so but sometimes it gets me wondering. It gets me wondering about how radically the software is changing the way I communicate with my family and friends, and just how beholden I am becoming to this program.
For example, I don’t really need to ask my friends how their days have been anymore, instead their Facebook status will let me know. If it tells me that ‘Clare has had a crap day’ then I know that something has happened to my girlfriend today and she probably needs cheering up. Likewise I’m less inclined to ask my friends how their weekends were – if I wasn’t already doing something with them, then chances are someone took along a digital camera and has already uploaded photos so I can see exactly what went on. Even relationships don’t warrant as much discussion as they used to – if my friends happen to break up with their partners then Facebook will tell me so and likewise if they find someone new in their life, Facebook will tell me that too.
There’s a satirical graphic doing the rounds on the Internet at the moment, entitled ‘Pensionbook’ that is meant to be Facebook when Generation Y grows old, with recent deaths instead of birthdays and colostomy bag applications and as ridiculous as this is, it gets me wondering about how communication practices are evolving for my generation. First of all mobile phones came along and we’ve become integrated with them, to the point that most people cannot leave the house without one. Now Facebook has come along and is available on any device that can establish an Internet connection and launch a web browser. It seems as though along the way, communication has been grossly simplified.
Perhaps this is a good thing in this fast paced world we live in, and perhaps Facebook allows us to pay more attention to the people we care about in our minute amounts of spare time by concentrating the happenings of our lives into a news feed. Then again, Matrix style, we could be becoming increasingly dependent on the application until one day we won’t be able to do anything unless Facebook says so.
