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Philosophical theorist takes on Facebook
October 27, 2006
When the social-networking Web site Facebook.com unveiled new features last month that tracked virtually every move made by its users, the backlash was quick and immediate.
PLU students were among those riled up because they felt the News Feed and Mini-Feed features invaded their privacy, said junior Lindsey Webb, president of the Philosophy Club. While students complained about the issues amongst themselves, Webb felt the issue needed to be addressed in a more critical setting.
“I realized people wanted to talk about it,” Webb said. “I wanted to have it in a different setting other than casual conversation.”
The philosophical implications of social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace will addressed in a presentation by Mark Van Hollebeke, a visiting assistant professor of philosophy at Seattle University. His presentation, “Facebook and Philosophy: Selfhood in the Age of Social Networking,” will be held on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in Chris Knutzen Hall East.
Van Hollebeke said new Internet technologies, including Facebook, Wikipedia and Slingbox, are not being used to their full potential because no one is discussing what the technology means in terms of socialization and who we are. The uproar over the Facebook News Feed and Mini-Feed touched on it.
“Those complaints hit on something important,” Van Hollebeke said. “We need to talk about the limits of the technology and what we really desire to do with it.”
In philosophy, selfhood essentially refers to what it means to be an individual, Van Hollebeke said. While working on his dissertation, he found that aspects of popular culture, such as reality TV shows and Facebook, overlapped with philosophical theories of the self.
“They were concrete examples of things that philosophers have been theorizing about for hundreds of years,” he said. “Now we are seeing how they work.”
For example, early 20th century philosophers like George Herbert Meade and John Dewey suggested that individual consciousness emerges from socialization. In other words, the individual projects traits based on what others in society think they are, Van Hollebeke said.
This phenomenon is currently happening on Facebook when users create a profile page. Their profile projects an image of what they want other users to believe, he explained.
People need to think critically about what they post online and understand the purpose of their Facebook page and their interactions, he said. Webb hopes his presentation will help students realize that Facebook is more than a way to procrastinate and meet people, she said.
“People spend a lot of time doing social networking,” she said. “If it’s something we spend so much time on, we should understand the deeper implications of what we are doing. When talking about issues of identity and self, there are not just trivial issues.”
“I realized people wanted to talk about it,” Webb said. “I wanted to have it in a different setting other than casual conversation.”
The philosophical implications of social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace will addressed in a presentation by Mark Van Hollebeke, a visiting assistant professor of philosophy at Seattle University. His presentation, “Facebook and Philosophy: Selfhood in the Age of Social Networking,” will be held on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in Chris Knutzen Hall East.
Van Hollebeke said new Internet technologies, including Facebook, Wikipedia and Slingbox, are not being used to their full potential because no one is discussing what the technology means in terms of socialization and who we are. The uproar over the Facebook News Feed and Mini-Feed touched on it.
“Those complaints hit on something important,” Van Hollebeke said. “We need to talk about the limits of the technology and what we really desire to do with it.”
In philosophy, selfhood essentially refers to what it means to be an individual, Van Hollebeke said. While working on his dissertation, he found that aspects of popular culture, such as reality TV shows and Facebook, overlapped with philosophical theories of the self.
“They were concrete examples of things that philosophers have been theorizing about for hundreds of years,” he said. “Now we are seeing how they work.”
For example, early 20th century philosophers like George Herbert Meade and John Dewey suggested that individual consciousness emerges from socialization. In other words, the individual projects traits based on what others in society think they are, Van Hollebeke said.
This phenomenon is currently happening on Facebook when users create a profile page. Their profile projects an image of what they want other users to believe, he explained.
People need to think critically about what they post online and understand the purpose of their Facebook page and their interactions, he said. Webb hopes his presentation will help students realize that Facebook is more than a way to procrastinate and meet people, she said.
“People spend a lot of time doing social networking,” she said. “If it’s something we spend so much time on, we should understand the deeper implications of what we are doing. When talking about issues of identity and self, there are not just trivial issues.”