The Cost of Attention

My birthday was last month. I apologize if you wished me happy birthday on my Facebook page. I didn't read it. To be honest, I can't remember the last time I checked my Facebook account. It isn't the countless hours wasted "Facebook stalking", farmvilling, and hot-or-notting that drove me to abstinence. In fact, for the longest time I didn't even really know why I stopped. I think I know now.

Recently I was reading a book by Clay Shirky called "Here Comes Everybody." In the book he describes the powerful effect that the internet has on forming social groups. In one part of the book, he briefly talks about how the internet has made the cost of forming these groups obsolete. He explains that "cost... is used in the economist's sense of anything expended -- money, but also time, effort, or attention." It is the last item in that list that really got me thinking. How has the cost of attention become obsolete in forming these groups?

Immediately I thought of the frivolity of status updates on Facebook, thoughtless Twitter messages, and careless wall posts. Millions of people are blabbing to the world when no one is listening. Shirky argues that indeed there are people listening. His argument is that conversations taking place on the internet between friends are synonymous to meeting up and chatting at the mall. However, if my close friends, and siblings are spouting out every fickle second of their lives, it doesn't matter where they are, I don't want to listen to it.

What's more, the comments that are being posted online are half-baked at best. Little or no thought is put into conversations on the web; it is far to easy to say things that can be mis-construed or are intentionally deceitful. As an example: Cyber-bullying is a result of careless teens and children who somehow feel that the things they are saying and doing online isn't real. Those children, and others are suffering from verbal apathy. The computer is merely a facade. Real people with real emotions are behind.

My heart holds no ire for Facebook. I completely value the ability to keep in touch with relatives and friends on a regular basis, and I know of no better tool suited for that purpose. That said, Facebook, and other social networking sites should not be the canvas for careless abstraction. Be considerate, be thoughtful, be true, and above all, think before you say.