Russ Wood
Russ Wood
Aug 27, 2017 · 2 min read

Any thoughtful person with more than a passing acquaintance with FB should be able to identify with much of what you’ve said. As you say, “consciously or unconsciously” FB can bring out a lot of bad behavior in people and lead us down a path fraught with negative emotions. There is no denying that. Still, there are a couple of things I kept thinking while reading your post.

One is that it is hard to believe that FB could be so successful if there wasn’t a positive aspect to it that people truly value. Given everything that is on the other side of the balance, it seems like there ought to be something more substantial than just the communication and information sharing aspects of it.

Within a sea of posts that are often troubling in one way or another, I encounter some that lift my spirits. For example, when a friend (or perhaps an acquaintance) posts about an accomplishment or event in their life, I just feel happy for them. I see nothing inherently wrong with someone who is proud of their accomplishment or truly just wants to share some joy in their life with their friends. Of course there is no objective measure of what is “appropriate” to post and thus any given post can easily step over a line for at least some of those who read it (or, often, for many or most of those who read it).

Perhaps more to your point, some of the most most uplifting posts I have read on FB are those made by someone whom I know is facing real adversity in their life. Although their post may remind me of their difficulties, it also shows how they are somehow rising above their troubles and are making the best of their difficult situation.

I can be very cynical, especially when it comes to FB posts, but sometimes you encounter posts that are truly difficult to fault in any way. That must be some powerful stuff because we keep coming back for more— even though we often find ourselves endlessly scrolling through posts and wondering why we keep “wasting” our time there.

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    Russ Wood

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    Russ Wood

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