Albert Einstein said, “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Even though he was referencing the atom bomb, the point is still valid: We're becoming slaves to our own technology.
I've been thinking about How Facebook is Ruining Sharing since I tweeted about this story on November 19th:
Now, mama always told you to share. And I'm certainly not discouraging it. Go for it.
But it's about the way we're now sharing. It's automated. Facebook compiles a list of stories your friends have been reading. Or, one post with a compelling headline with a link to an article you want to read. When you click the headline, you get a link to download a Facebook app. If you download this app, it will enable “frictionless,” automated sharing. On your wall, it appears as a list of recent articles you've read:
“Sharing and recommendation shouldn't be passive. It should be conscious, thoughtful, and amusing–we are tickled by a story, picture, or video and we choose to share it, and if a startling number of Internet users also find that thing amusing, we, together, consciously create a tidal wave of meme that elevates that piece of media to viral status. We choose these gems from the noise. Open Graph will fill our feeds with noise, burying the gems.”
This could be the start of how everything we do online will be tracked. And we won't have a choice. We're willingly sacrificing our privacy for “connection” to others. The irony? We're losing our humanity in the process. We're heading down the route so that We All Live in Public.
The good news is that we can become powerful, conscious creators. We can more deeply connect with ourselves – and then communicate the essence of the change we want to make to the world.
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