Facebook and the ‘demagialization’ of social life

Facebook is a social, cultural and technological phenomenon like no other. With over six hundred million users worldwide, the social networking site seems to be on the verge of taking the world by storm. From a sociological perspective, the consumption patterns associated with the website are fascinating. Today’s user demographics dictate that Facebook manages to transcend all ties of class, gender, and ethnicity. Also, the idea that the site is predominantly marketed to the 18-24 year olds (ie college students) has now been completely transformed. In a recent study, it was confirmed that almost 75% of Facebook users belong to age ranges that are above or below young adulthood. With very little sign of this trend declining, the implications this website has on the social world are sure to be monumental.

Unsurprisingly, social scientists now claim that we are already grappling with the implications of rampant social media. Questions that speculate on how interaction systems change within an age dominated by “computer-mediated communication” have now become a nascent topic within academia. ‘Cyberpsychologist’ Carlyne Kujath argues that the dominance of social media has complemented (rather than replaced) face-to-face social interaction. According to Kujath, most interpersonal relationships are still instigated within ‘offline’ social circumstances. The main utility of social networking sites is solely to solidify these already existing relationships, within a space that is easily accessible to all its constituent members, regardless of their geographical position. Under these conditions, friendship groups are maintained and advanced through online communication. Ergo, the implications of social media are arguably beneficial in potentially helping ‘long-lost friends’ keep in touch with one another. Although this attribute of the ‘Facebook phenomenon’ is certainly laudable, we are still left wondering how real-life sociability has been qualitatively affected by the ubiquity of ‘computer-mediated communication’.

However, Max Weber’s classical sociology can provide insight into this currently under-researched area. For Weber, modern society is characterized by rationality and scientific reasoning. The verifications that support this argument are observable within the social omnipresence of bureaucratic structures. Placed in such conditions, human beings are effectively ‘cogs in the machine’, so notions related to autonomy, mysticism and creativity are almost non-existent. As a result of this highly rationalized order, the “demagicalization” (or “disenchantment”) of social life takes shape. Here, as society becomes more scientific in its thinking, elements related to mystery and wonder (i.e. religion, romance, art, etc.) become less important in the modern world. But wait a minute: – What the hell does this have to do with Facebook? And how has the social networking site contributed to the so-called “de-magicalization” of social life? The answers to both questions arise from the fact that Facebook is rationalist. The organization itself operates on a centralist paradigm; ensuring that no user violates the rules that he has imperatively established. Within this bureaucratic setup, people’s friendship groups are stored within an abstract system that no ordinary human being has control over (think of the abundance of statuses venting some sort of frustration with Facebook by changing your site’s settings). Web). However, user demographics suggest that few people are put off by Facebook’s bureaucratic structure. Rather, people are actually complicit in giving this website carte blanche to quantitatively restructure its equity capital. As a result, social media users are becoming more rational in the way they interact with their friends. For example, friendships are formed on Facebook through sent friend requests. Here, the recipient accepts or ignores these potential friendships as methodically as a worker on an assembly line. Also, within cyberspace, Facebook users are constantly keeping up with their friends’ lives. If a person also wants to know what a friend has been up to, he or she can casually scan through the friend’s ‘wall posts’ and pictures of hers, and efficiently appease their curiosity at the time. According to recent research on the subject, the average Facebook user visits the website six times a day. Under these circumstances, people become less mysterious and more familiar. Such revelations will significantly contribute to the banality of social life. Consequently, the quality of our daily conversations will be tremendously diluted by the excess of social networks.

Forgive me for painting such a pessimistic picture, but since time immemorial it has been an anthropological truism that social beings befriended and maintained friendships through verbal communication. However, thanks to the proliferation of social media, we now live in a society where, for the first time, we can become friends with a person without even getting to know them. I’m pretty sure we all know of a romantic relationship that developed on Facebook. But is this truly romantic; magical; or charming? Meet your potential life partner by becoming your “Facebook stalker”? Yes, it certainly is easier and faster (ie more rational) than the ‘traditional’ model of social interaction. But when it has been claimed that computer-mediated communication is currently overtaking real-world interaction, the need to critically review the implications of the Facebook phenomenon has never been more relevant. I really prefer the sociability in the days before Facebook. But it seems that the effects of social networks are too much underway to reverse. However, according to the neo-Weberian George Ritzer, we can resist social disenchantment by “confronting the machine.” This probably requires less time spent on social networking sites, along with more face-to-face interaction.

However, being more inclined to the macrosociological tradition, I myself expect more qualitative changes to take place through social media. Under these circumstances, Facebook will be an integral figurehead in the ‘de-magicalization’ of social life. Thank you very much Mark Zuckerberg.