An interesting post titled “Facebook: cyber-suburbia” popped up on Google Reader today from the blog “Social Creature.” It makes the statement that Facebook has become a social-suburbia in comparison to Myspace. “You have to be kidding me,” I thought. See I am not a very big fan of the ongoing “battle” between the two sites; it gets a little annoying sometimes. But as I kept reading I began to see the issues that this social separation might cause in schools. The post claims that Myspace is a site for the freaks and geeks, the burnouts and queers, for the “teens who plan on going into the military after school,” for the “kids who are socially ostracized at school.” Facebook then is the site for the “jocks, athletes, or other “good” kids.”

After reading this I asked myself what this meant for a teen’s experience at school. Immediately I though back to the day when you walk down the hallway to your locker and along the way are the group of jocks standing in their jerseys, the good looking girls looking, well, good, the burnouts sitting in the corner, or the smart kids studying away. This vast range of clicks can be hard on a student who does not fit in, a new student or someone who wants to be a part of two groups. Wow I thought, now students can’t leave this at the door when they leave school, it follows then home to their computer where they join groups, tag photos, write posts and messages, and list their favorite music and movies. This means that students will feel the pressure to define themselves in every way possible. The movies they like, the music they have playing, the pictures they have, the number of online friends they have all will contribute to define their social status and group. I will be blunt when I say this is not only terrible for the generations to come, but it is purely pathetic.

So what does this all mean? Is it really all that big of a deal or is it just going to be another aspect of the teenager’s society that is sometimes hard to understand when looking back. Well I believe that this social labeling that the two sites have created is a big deal and it will only separate students even more in the hallways. “Oh don’t talk to him, he is a Myspace creep,” or “there goes the Facebook jock, what a prep!” Teenagers have it hard enough trying to fit in and deal with criticism at school no matter how popular they are. Their lives and popularity should not be defined by their Myspace or Facebook page that is too superficial for even middle schools and high schools.

Source: Social Creature (blog)

Author: Jenks

Title: Facebook: Cyber-suburbia