FB Rant --

I found the article “Using Facebook to Teach Rhetorical Analysis” to be interesting. I know for me, Facebook has played a very interesting anomaly in my life because I have very polarized views of it. To one degree, I don’t like it, and I feel that it is an awful thing, and yet, when I think about it a second time, I have a tremendous amount of respect for what it represents.

Why I don’t like Facebook:  Because of time constraints, this answer will be short and underdeveloped but…

I feel that Facebook is systematically creating a generation of narcissists who have a superficial perspective of reality. I feel that more than not, Facebook creates a passive compliance among its users, and it does little to empower them. How is this you ask?  Well by the very nature of the program, the website is sets up to make its users seek validation. You post a picture you, you get a like. You post a comment, you get a like. The more comments and photos you post, the more likes you get (regardless of how significant or insignificant you posts are). This is classic conditioning at its best. With respects to the narcissistic aspect of my argument, since users are constantly seeking validation (and because to some degree they are constantly getting validated), users develop a skewed perspective of what’s important. My thought is, you post a picture of your food, you get a like, now this equates to your dinner is now important. This idea then correlates with the idea that each aspect of your life becomes important because every aspect of your life is getting validation. This leads to notions of “it is all about me!” We are all mini celebrities now. With respects to my comment about the passive voice… Since people can now voice their opinion about everything, I don’t feel like people have that “raisin in the sun effect” exemplified in Langston Hughes’ poem…. Without pent up frustration, how can we instigate change?*

*Now I know that around the world there have been social movements which began because of social media, to that I say that is the exception, not the rule. 

Why I think Facebook is a powerful tool:

On the other side of things, I appreciate what Facebook is capable of being. When I was a freshman in college , I remember my philosophy teacher made us go through a short exercise.  He asked us to raise our hands if he we know who are parents are, and if we could share stories about them. All kids in the class raised their hands. Then, he asked us to raise our hands if we knew who are grandparents were, and if we could share stories about them.  Three quarters of the class put their hands up. He repeated the exercise and asked us to do the same with our great grandparents.  Only 4 people out of 30 + people put their hands up. I remember being blown back by the fact that we feel our lives are sooo important, and we feel so “connected to our personal history”, yet just after only two generations, most of us we will be forgotten, just like our great grandparents, and our history will clumped in to broad generalized statements. This is where Facebook comes in to the picture. With the emergence of Facebook, I feel like that my Facebook profile can be my legacy to my family. Every aspect of my profile is a representation of me and my life. The picture’s I post and the comments I share are the key to understanding who I am as a person… They define my personality, my hopes, my dreams, my aspiration… my everything.

Steeped within these two views is where I get stuck on whether I think Facebook can/ should be used in the classroom. Although I feel that Facebook, in all of its facets, can be used for a rhetorical analysis, I feel just about anything can be used for a rhetorical analysis. –I’m one of those people that feel that almost anything that we encounter is an argument, and that it is working to push an agenda. Because I am not comfortable on where I sit with Facebook, I can’t determine whether it is socially responsible to use Facebook in the class. I feel like, by using Facebook in the class it’s validating everything I feel is wrong with it (along with what I like about it). … I know, I know… I know that the counter argument is that by using Facebook in the classroom a teacher can guide the discussion and “enlighten” students of the underlying factors exhibited by Facebook, but I feel a teacher presents the data, and it’s up to the student to reach their own conclusions… But that’s exactly where part of my problem lies, if I’m not comfortable with their potential conclusions, then how can I comfortably say I am being socially responsible? This is why I may not use Facebook in my classroom.