Today is my ten year anniversary of being on Facebook. I was the 2,406,718th person to join TheFacebook when I signed up during the summer before my Freshman year of college. It seemed like it would be a fun and easy way to meet cute girls, but thats about all I gave it credit for. And if youd have gone so far as to tell me it would end up being the foundation of my social experience, I would have called you crazy. And yet, here I am ten years later, trying to wrap my head around the magnitude of something that so many trivialize. Its so easy to use Facebook as a way to hide from the real world, and I am indebted to all of you for giving my page and my experience on this site far more substance than anybody could hope for. This Facebook page is mine in name only; I generate just a fraction of the content that shows up here and makes this page so great. Over two-thirds of the jokes, jibes, and profound insights come from all of you. It goes without saying that you elevate the level of cultural discourse far beyond that of most pages out there, and are committed to tackling the most sensitive subjects possible with forthrightness and sensitivity in equal measure. But that you can also swing back in the next breath to laughing about baby deer and the absurdity of Tinder is truly special and not something I take for granted in the slightest. When I was profiled in the New York Posts dating column last November, one of the questions they asked me was my greatest fear was. I answered quite honestly that it would be getting my Facebook profile deleted. And its not because Im afraid of losing contact with all of you; the internet is vast and expansive, and I have no doubt that we could all reconnect without much hassle. But I am justly proud of the archive of amazing content you all have generated and for that to all just vanish would be a great tragedy. The fact that your opinions about the articles I post spark a more intricate discussion than the articles themselves is a testament to the power of social media when people arent concerned about being right, but collectively finding the best solutions to tricky problems. A recent article in The New Yorker described Facebook as a thin and undigested...skimming over of data rather than a deep sink into the specificity and emotional reality of human experience. Countless opinion pieces bemoan the fact that Facebook encourages people to live out loud and that the rapid-fire pace of communication in the internet age doesnt allow time for introspection. I not-so-humbly disagree. There is so much thoughtfulness and humanity in the comments section of my posts, and I rarely ever worry about the conversation getting too vitriolic or heated to the point that productivity is threatened. More than anything, I am grateful for the ways in which this page has really become a community of smart, passionate, differently-minded people. Even if you just read but never comment, please know that you have a prominent place in all this as well. Whether you come here for a laugh, or to get some new perspectives on important issues, it means so much much to me knowing that this space is somewhere you can go to take a break from all the craziness out there. You have all helped me grow in ways I truly never thought I could, and never let me take the easy way out. I look forward to many more years of us sharing thoughtful disagreement, funny internet videos, and sophisticated dick jokes. To all of you, from the bottom of my heart: thank you, thank you, thank you.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 13:58:59 +0000
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