Tal Ben-Shahar: Is Facebook Making Us Sad?

http://bit.ly/l8245Z - Facebook and Twitter, by making our lives increasingly public, make avoiding the dangerous drive towards perfectionism difficult. Tal Ben-Shahar explains why.

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[BlackJacketJones]

I disagree with you. Yes, narcissism and one's social standing is one aspect of websites like Facebook. But to diminish it to that one aspect is short-sighted. Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with friends and relatives that you might have otherwise lost touch with. It can also be used as a medium to spread ideas and information, just like this site here. Yes, Youtube has a lot of baby fart and shaking tit videos. But that's not all there is. There's also stuff like this.

[stopandthink22]

It's true that facebook/twitter/et al are for the herd and the truly noble type would naturally transcend such narcissism. These pages are used wholly to promote one's social standing, and since most of the user's so-called 'friends' are either people he's never met or passing aquaintances added simply to boost totals, its basis is solipsistic. How many boozy mess pictures do you need to see before you realize this is a waste? How many more asinine comments on each others "walls"? sickening!

[ohevshalomel]

Interesting.

[BlackJacketJones]

@DeathBringer769 My comment was a response to someone else's comment. It's like you're angry at me for repeating something that the guy in the video said... "Did you just blank that out when thinking about your response to this video?" What a condescending remark. Do you feel better about yourself, trying to put me down for something so trivial? Take it easy, okay?

[DeathBringer769]

@BlackJacketJones He mentioned all that about it being "a great way to keep in touch with friends and relatives that you might have otherwise lost touch with." Did you just blank that out when thinking about your response to this video?

[twistedfire3]

I hate my generation we are so arrogant and pretentious

the only thing we have to be proud of is technology that we didn't create

technology has killed creativity, integrity, intelligence and privacy

[Jasmineellis69]

@Jasmineellis69 continued... standing, but not everyone on these networks for those reasons. some of us just like to get into contact with old friends, share ideas, or hear otthers' ideas.

[Jasmineellis69]

@BlackJacketJones i agree with you completely. Like you said, there are people on facebook who use facebook solely for the purpose of boosting ones image ans social sta

[IAmEnormous]

@stopandthink22 Damn, that's all 100% fact, isn't it? There isn't a single person who didn't get a social networking profile just to elevate their perceived social status. Learn something new every day.

[futureleader17]

@stopandthink22 "asinine comments on each others "walls"? sickening" ... really? the last comment to someone's wall i made was "can you tell me what pages we were supposed to read for dynamics?" what is asinine about this? i have zero "boozy mess" pictures on my facebook. you, sir, seem to have a very closed mind towards social networking. it is like ANYTHING else: there is a way to use it right, and there is a way to abuse it. you have, in a short-sighted way, only discussed the latter.

[abcxyzeer]

I agree with you! on Facebook it just seems that everyone else's life is so much more exciting than mine and that in some ways made my life a little more depressed.

[thebuzdar]

@BlackJacketJones you didnt even watch the video.. he said that also