Of Facebook

Ibn Gias

The face that launched a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Ilium.

‘The face that launched a thousand ships’ is a figure of speech that stands for Helen of Troy. Helen was so beautiful that Greek men went to Troy and fought the Trojan War to win Helen back from Paris. But we can consider ourselves fortunate that we have not yet heard of burning down any modern tower for conquering any face among a lot existing in the Facebook. May be the people of modern age are less crazy and more rational than the people of the ancient time!

Face reflects one’s personality. The saying goes – “Face is the index of mind”. But do our Facebook accounts reflect the state of our minds? Surely not. When someone gives a status in Facebook s/he usually keeps in mind how many of her/his friends will like the status. Most of the statuses in people’s Facebook accounts are all about their good works and most of the time happy moments are shared. There are a few who dare to comment like ‘I have told a lie today, so I repent’. Fewer are there who are courageous enough to make their Facebook friends know that they got a retake in their last semester.

Moreover, in the Facebook we are friends with our classmates, siblings, relatives and also with our teachers. We can share our thoughts and feelings with our friends, but can hardly do so with our teachers. So the ‘common’ comments which we put in Facebook accounts are usually vague.

But as a social being the tendency to share and relish feelings and events with others is eternal for us. Facebook, Twitter etc. have extended us the opportunity to materialise the dream. However, the eagerness to share something exclusive in Facebook is also making some of us stupid! As for example, a few days ago a friend of mine tagged a video in Facebook in which I saw a shop is ablaze. Later the friend informed me that the shop is situated near his house and he took the exclusive video after the fire had spread from an electric short circuit. In my utter surprise I asked him why he was making video instead of trying to extinguish the fire. He could not give me a convincing answer. But I understood that my friend has also been suffering from a Facebook mania – the trend to put something more exclusive in Facebook than his other friends did previously.

However, it is not that nothing good is coming from the use of Facebook. The recent uprising in the Middle East for democracy is one among the good things that happened by utilising this social network.

Finally, we can hope – ‘Let a thousand flowers bloom’ as because the nobility of the Facebook lies in the fact that the face of the social network is shaped, into good or bad, according to its users’ will.