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Facebook can be what you make it. I block the news feeds from people who's status updates annoy me, or just clog up space. I mainly use it to stay connected to friends who I wouldn't normally call or see, and to read news articles that people post which I would otherwise not find (it kind of serves one of the functions of marxmail, in that sense). When I get these requests to be a "fan" of XYZ or whatever, I usually just delete them, though sometimes I click the button if it seems cool. Whatever. Some of the Facebook crap is annoying, but it goes with the good stuff. If Facebook is sucking up time, it probably has more to do with larger difficulties in avoiding easy, impulsive distractions (I say this as someone who constantly falls victim to this). This is my personal experience -- I'm open to arguments that Facebook and Twitter might represent larger setbacks, especially because so many of my students seems to be completely shaped by them. But I can't tell if it's Facebook and Twitter that's eroding their attention spans and helping them stay in a bubble, or if it's other stuff. I suspect that if the shit hits the fan, these social networking things will not matter, except that they will facilitate both resistance and repression. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
