Facebook is the bane of intellectual conversation. I know, this may seem hyperbolic, but after using Facebook for nearly ten years, it's a reality that seems more likely every day. It's the very structure of the site/app/empire that does this.
Let's say, for example, Hank posts a status stating his dislike of a popular film franchise. Fran then comments that she disagrees and states the reason for her disagreement. So far, so good.
At one point, both parties post a comment at the same time, one adding to a previous comment, the other responding to said comment. Now confusion brews.
The two parties now must sort out the error in posting. They refresh the page; they find someone else has joined the conversation. Now there are three sets of comments to be concidered.
In face to face conversation, this would not be so bad, but here it has unforseen difficulties. All three post at the same time. Any stream of conversation has been broken, and now all three parties must actively address all points (seemingly in an effort to remain relevant to the conversation) or merely back away totally. Soon, a comment is misconstrued. A party is offended. A random observer "likes" the offending comment, which in no way indicates agreement, humor, or really much of anything. All the same, this doesn't help the offended party.
Now, I'm certain we have all encountered situations like this. People could have no ill-will in mind, but the very structure of the medium may be creating these confusions. It's more difficult to convey tone other than just blatantly spelling everything out, and many comments seem to come off as walls of text, rather than open conversation. The subtlties of face-to-face conversation is lost upon us in conversations like this. The detachment is seemingly inevitable sometimes.
Is there a real solution to this? Is there a viable option to the cacophony known as Facebook? As far as I'm concerned, nothing really compares to flesh and blood conversation, but the realities of distance can make this difficult at times, so perhaps the refresh button dependent "comments section" of many websites isn't the best option. Perhaps, it may lie in a Facebook message? Or a tex? Or a phone call? Perhaps many of us have become far too used to the illusion of convenience that Facebook can create, and have become hesitant to the impact of flesh and blood interactions?
In the end, while I would like there to be a real ground for "intelligent conversation" on Facebook, I'm constantly fighting the battle between wanting the stimulating interaction, and the malaise I feel towards taking any of it seriously.
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