Day 3: The Wall

It's only been 3 days and it's much easier to refrain from the urge to update, "stalk", or post to facebook. Hooray!


Something familiar to all is the facebook 'wall'. It's another thing that has changed about the site and many may not know it, but the first 'wall' that people wrote on was more of a word document that your friends typed on and other people could edit what was written. It was somewhat of a challenge to figure out what a friend had changed and which friend wrote what. It has advanced quite a bit since then, but the concept is the same. Rather than directly saying something to each other we post for EVERYONE and the publicity allows others to comment or even have conversations that don't involve you, the owner of the wall.  The first time that this happened to me I was almost weirded out; why would two people feel the need to have a back and fourth conversation that no longer involved me on my wall? It was a space invasion, but isn't that what the site is for.
The wall is essentially a status update, a place to see where new things are posted, where you wrote on someone else's wall, where you checked in, what causes you are supporting, and for friends to stop by and say hello or make a date for dinner. I realize these are obvious statements for anyone who has a facebook account, but do we really see it as being as public as the news or a tabloid or are we immune?

It's almost as if we can step away from owning our lives and let the text speak for us with much less emotion. It starts fights, causes misunderstandings, and hurt feelings. We knowingly participate and have no care for what we post there- unless by some chance it does effect someone, then we shortly consider how to fix the situation or delete the problematic post entirely. An alternative might be to leave it to fester- sometimes unknowingly causing pain to those who say nothing of the hurt.


By definition a wall is "a high thick masonry structure forming a long rampart or an enclosure chiefly for defense " now isn't that interesting? A wall isn't typically used to let people in, but to keep people out.


Something to think about.