One of the things that stood out in the Facebook newsfeed the other day was a notification announcing that a friend had become a ‘fan' of a Facebook ‘group' called “'Did I Ask You?' ‘No' ‘Then Shut Up'.” This was after I'd had an intense argument with her on the telephone. The next thing I knew was we were waging a virtual war with each other on Facebook. Things that we would otherwise never say to each other even after earlier spats, we were now blatantly screaming from our Facebook status updates. A trend, if it can be called one for lack of a better word, emerging vis-à-vis ubiquitous social networking sites is that people, who would otherwise not have the nerve to say things in the flesh have now all the courage to verbally attack the other person by just posting a status on Facebook or a “tweet”. By doing so, not only are you getting your message across (assuming your target is on your list, or is following you) but are also avoiding all the ugly confrontations in real life. “This is especially true in cases where the user has an anonymous identity on the networking site. The feel of anonymity gives people a false courage, and that they can do and say anything they want without precaution,” explained Dr. Alhumood Abdullah, an associate professor in the department of Mass Communication, at the Imam University in Riyadh, and vice president of the Saudi Association for Media and Communication. Not everything is gloomy about this though, says Abdullah. “Many see this trend as positive because people are saying things they wouldn't in real life because of anonymity, that means their views are the same whether in real life or online, and it's better to confront them even if we don't know who (they) really are. Confrontations can sometimes change the way we think,” he added. Some would say a culture of introverts is creeping in with many now preferring to spend more time in ‘socializing' online and limiting traditional socializing in real life, as has already been warned by one recent British survey. The study blamed social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc., for people making fewer phone calls, sending fewer texts and emails and watching less television among other things. Introverts are generally characterized as those who usually think slower and need time alone to reflect, while extroverts are able to think on the spot and to-the-point. Social networking sites, with their all-text-no-speech format, will quite naturally attract introverts. An average user on Facebook has 130 ‘friends', a number unlikely for even the most outgoing person in real life, while an average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook, according to the site's official statistics. “In a conservative society like Saudi Arabia, establishing and maintaining online contact is becoming far easier than meeting people and friends in real life. This is especially evident among women. Moreover, there are chances that when I am socializing online, the contact may often result in the setting up of a real meeting with that person,” said Abdullah. Perhaps keeping in touch with people online rather than spending money on other traditional means of communication is tempting in the current recession-hit times. Abdullah agrees and said that the benefits of socializing online are that it's a cheaper, easier and more productive way for the younger generation to communicate. “But it is also a problematic thing because of reasons of security. Parents' control over children seems to be weak in many cases.” Facebook, on its part, says its mission is to give people the “power to share and make the world more open and connected”. Perhaps, it is this ‘openness' that the world is moving towards, never mind if it is only limited to the virtual world.
