<story><title>Facebook Isn&apos;t Worth It</title><url>http://seersuckermag.com/opinion/read/facebook-isnt-giving-back-what-we-put-in</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>graue</author><text>The problem with posts like this, both pro- and anti-Facebook, is that they are just someone&apos;s experience and our experiences vary. If your personal use of Facebook had similar results to the author&apos;s, you nod your head, perhaps virtually applaud, and share the link. I know I&apos;m tempted to do so here.&lt;p&gt;But I also know that there are people who use Facebook in a way that strengthens, augments and reinforces real-life relationships. I&apos;ve also read of studies that show a positive, not a negative, correlation between time spent on social media and how engaged people are with others in person. Some will say, &quot;well, duh&quot; to that, and will shake their heads at an article like this, which to them only shows that someone doesn&apos;t know how to use Facebook.&lt;p&gt;Both experiences are valid. I follow a sociologist on Twitter who writes a lot of essays from the latter viewpoint. To him, it&apos;s a theoretical split. There is the &quot;digital dualist&quot; theory, that basically says online/offline is a zero sum game and social media makes friendships shallow and disposable, and there is the &quot;augmented reality&quot; theory that all is connected, that what we do online &lt;i&gt;is&lt;/i&gt; real life and not something different. And he holds the latter theory to be correct while the former, he finds simplistic, sentimental and broken. (I&apos;m thinking of @nathanjurgenson if anyone wants to follow along, have done my best to represent his views but obviously this summary is my own)&lt;p&gt;I disagree with all of the above. It has become ever more clear to me that some people really do use and experience Facebook in a dualistic way while others do not. There is no one, unified, grand theory of Facebook that encompasses all experiences. Both camps would like to say, &quot;This is how it is, period&quot;, but they are really saying, &quot;This is how it is &lt;i&gt;for me&lt;/i&gt;&quot;.</text></comment>
<story><title>Facebook Isn&apos;t Worth It</title><url>http://seersuckermag.com/opinion/read/facebook-isnt-giving-back-what-we-put-in</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>tomasien</author><text>I can&apos;t even debate this blog, because if he doesn&apos;t get utility from Facebook, socially, then he doesn&apos;t get utility form it. That&apos;s factual.&lt;p&gt;But I, and most of my close friends, get HUGE social utility from the platform. Some just use it for Events, some for micro-blogging, some for passively keeping in touch, some for messaging, etc. etc. But I know lots of people much better because of Facebook.&lt;p&gt;And that is also factual.</text></comment>