心道 (xīn dào)

This is in reaction to the group/event Take the Red Pill that calls on everyone to disconnect from Facebook on March 7^th this year.

Let’s get off the internet. Let’s live. We don’t have to keep getting farther and farther away from one another because our capitalist, corporate government gives us the perfect ways to do so.

Follow up:

I agree with the group’s arguments that our “online social” selves is overtaking the real “socialization” that we must be doing - “personal level and real human interaction". But for me, Facebook is an effective channel in (re)-connecting to my “clan” relatives, long lost friends (including ‘enemies’ ), and classmates.

Once we found each other “online", in this case via Facebook, then we move on to the next stage - meeting up the traditional way (if time and location will permit). Real Human interaction is irreplaceable, the Internet and everything about and connected to it will never be able to replace or even come close to that.

3. Exchange emails, telephone numbers, addresses, anything and everything with those whom you wouldn’t know how to contact without Facebook.

All check. After finding each other, that is always the next stage. But if not for Facebook, we won’t even be able to (re)-connect especially if one is looking for their “clan” relatives, long lost friends, and classmates.

Take for example, our Elementary Batch got together and are now doing monthly “mini-reunions” (as we call it) so we not only talk online but meet in person as well - socializing the “human” way (as I like to call it).

We also helped in finding our other classmates who are not much into online social networks, because one has knowledge the other doesn’t. By sharing these information (and I say, via our Facebook group), we were able to ‘connect-the-dots’ and find them as well (and encouraging them to return to our country to join one of our monthly mini-reunions).

I personally think that it all comes down to “how we use the technologies around us". Have we let SNS like Facebook take over our social lives? Well that is bad. Or are we using these technologies as a “channel” to build real _human_ (/offline) relationships?

It is more of discipline and education. It is knowing what our goal is in using an SNS like Facebook. I admit, I was once one of those who was entagled in the web of “online socialization replacing the human socialization” (yes Facebook too), but one day I asked myself: What is my goal in using Facebook? Is it to replace the human way of socializing or to augment it?

I realized then that Facebook has become a bondage. Armed with that, slowly (and it was hard!) I took back control of my SNS-life. I redefined Facebook. I keep on reminding myself why I am using Facebook. I identified things that I can do with it and set to reach those goals.

And it works to this day. Discipline and education, that’s what I lacked so unknowingly I got entangled in the web. For me, Facebook (all other SNS) are simply a channel where [1] I can find my “clan” relatives; [2] re-connect to my classmates; and [3] search for my long lost friends.

The next stage always is to pull it back to the real world through phone conversations or SMS/text messaging (texting is the ‘phone’ conversation in the Philippines), meet-up somewhere (regularly if possible), share, catch-up, build new relationships (example business partnerships), and so on.

It is not a replacement but rather it is an augmentation of the Human way of socialization - which is meeting face-to-face and building friendships that are true and will last forever.

Let’s not solve the problem by taking harsh heavy actions. Let us attack the root problem, and personally I believe that is discipline and education. Aren’t privacy issues mostly caused by lack of education (about the dangers of the Internet), for example? Isn’t addiction to Internet technologies most of the time caused by lack of discipline, take for example addiction to online games?

I do not know how I can help, but one thing I do know, I am not a super-human, I am not a mutant, I am not a demi-god, and definitely I am not some space alien. If I can do it then so can everybody else. But if taking the Red Pill is really the only way, then by all means do so, if it will do good there is no reason to stop anyone. As I’ve said earlier, I agree with the group, just that I have a different path to solving the problem, which is why I wrote this blog post.

^_^

Visit the group here: Take the Red Pill or Facebook Mass-Deactivation Attempt on March 7. And no, I do not work for Facebook or any other SNS.