anti-social media

I recently passed the Licensure Examination for Architects (more on this later on) and amidst the fanfare, debacle, and confusion on what transpired during the examination, an outpouring of congratulatory sentiment permeated the online communities. This may be rather quotidian and ordinary for most, but for those who do not subscribe to the typical social media platforms, Facebook in particular, this sort of emotional projected self-promotion became rather curious.

I personally lack, or rather do not subscribe, to Facebook, for reasons too lengthy and obtuse to expound here and now. What I find curious is that a friend of mine, hailing way back from high school, upon finding out that I have passed the board exams decided to post an announcement on his Facebook page to congratulate me with said achievement, and also to announce it within his circle. That, in itself, is appreciated. What is curious is that people began posting congratulatory sentiments and messages on his page, for me. An outpouring from old friends, distanced contacts, and acquaintances from way back began flooding his bulletin, as if his page was my page. Of course, the implication here is an expectation for him to pass on the message to me, which he is not responsible for (although our ties run deep, he is in no way my representative or publicist), and because of his rather intermittent presence online, was left astray. Were they aware that there is an absence of action, a disconnected fray, from posting messages on a page I do not own, or have access to, to the actual subject/ intended recipient of the message? This, I fear, is a query I will never be able to explore.

It is important to note that most of the people who posted on his page are old friends of ours, and thus possess my contact details; with the exception of those whom I have not been in contact with since 10^th Grade or thereabouts. A certain period has passed, but none attempted to send a text message to let me know of their well-wishing; excluding a phone call from him and a friend who is currently residing in Australia.

This led me to posit the question: has social media made personal contact obsolete? Have we forgotten the intimacy and comfort that human contact provides? Has Facebook furthermore shortened the attention span of people, wherein so many are willing to spend time, effort and logistic diligence to go online, implore wi-fi, 3G, or what-have-you, but find the effort of texting a peso-cost message utterly inconvenient? Has dependency on the digital platform for communication made calls and texts, and personal bonds obsolete? Have we lost the tangible, haptic quality of the human experience in favor of the information-driven, speed-junkie, streamed-life detachment of online contexts?

Original image from here.