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A Generation's Reduction

Facebook changes the way we see others, and ourselves. Information about our personalities becomes narrow and simple, unlike our own complex reality. At least that is what Zadie Smith, author of Generation Why?, believes.

"When a human being becomes a set of data on a website like Facebook, he or she is reduced. Everything shrinks. Individual character. Friendships. Language. Sensibility."

Mysterious Zuckerberg

To bring focus to the abnormal creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Smith opens her article with a critique of The Social Network. In doing this, Smith answers the question, why is Facebook Facebook?

"With Zuckerberg we have a real American mystery."

Zuckerberg's ultimate interest is power, not bounds of wealth. Attainment of this power can be achieved, found Zuckerberg, through his creation of an interface that allowed him and his users to "connect" to one another by reducing themselves.

Smith has concluded that Zuckerberg's creation of the social platform was ultimately because he wants to be liked by others. Our generation is highly self-conscious, and because of this, there is nothing worse than not being liked.

Moving Online

Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not A Gadget, said,

"Information systems need to have information in order to run, but information under represents reality."

In other words, it is not possible to interpret who a "person" is through online data. This view is opposite of Sean Parker, who in The Social Network said,

"We lived on farms, then we lived in cities and now we're gonna live on the internet."

Making Connections
The idea that millions of people live vicariously through their online identities may at first seem comical, but in actuality, is quite alarming. Zuckerberg wanted to create an atmosphere that functions under one goal, to connect. Things that people feel identify them as unique are merely choices, each categorized within Facebook. Through these connections, advertisers have the ability to track our choices, with almost unlimited access.

"To the advertiers, we are our capacity to buy, attached to a few personal, irrelevant photos."

Our "connections" are not true reality. Instead, they limit us to the "careless thoughts of a Harvard sophomore."