Facebook: The Social Disenfranchisement Network?

Jaron Lanier's You Are Not a Gadget is a common topic of debate among our blog contributors. Here's my take! While Lanier’s book may seem like an elaborate rant, it isn’t without merit. Being devoid of neutrality, his bias is fascinating. Reading through Not a Gadget is akin to watching a typical I-just-woke-up-out-of-cryo scene from of a sci-fi thriller. He frustratingly sputters vexations, displaying little control of his motor functions. But in the course of reading this book, it becomes evident that Lanier has real merit. Kind of like how that de-cryo’d guy from the sci-fi movie who in an earlier scene seemed helplessly frustrated, is then shown as intriguingly pacific wrapped in a blanket in a modified thinker pose staring off into the distance and recounting the lost world he knew before going into cryo; a genteel savant recounting the lost and somehow purer ideology of old. 

Okay fine not genteel,

Jaron Lanier

but you get the point.

This effect becomes apparent in his comparison of Facebook with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, specifically its contemporary reauthorization,  “No Child Left Behind.” He argues that “what computerized analysis of all the country’s school tests has done to education is exactly what Facebook has done to friendships,” asserting that Facebook has turned life into a database the same way current education legislation has resulted in standardized testing that turns learning into a database. 

Regarding Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. etc., I must admit that I’ve always had a nagging feeling of “do I really need this stuff?” Not having a Facebook account is almost taboo in my community, even more so regarding LinkedIn. While reading Lanier’s Not a Gadget, I felt a little like the dynamic character in the sci-fi movie who, while not swayed by the de-cryo’d guy protagonist, senses the accuracy of that nagging “something’s wrong here.” Not a Gadget isn’t right or wrong; it’s thought provoking. Highly recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R3935WHS8O28XG/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm