This is just a working draft of experimenting with ideas and contemporary phenomena and seeing if in the process of that some interesting insights might appear, or on contrary, no significant connections might be found..
The particular idea, articulated in Erich Fromm’s book “Escape from Freedom”, is that “the need to belong” is one of the primary needs (side by side with physiological needs like hunger, thirst, sex..) of humans.
The particular phenomenon: obsessive-compulsive relationship with facebook. Precisely, the need to check it dozen times a day. The need to obsessively follow certain group of friends’ profiles and their updates (including following their interesting links, pictures from the last weekend and etc..).
“Oh my God, what a disspointment if nothing happened for a day in friends’ profiles, my own wall.. No comments, nothing. Micro frustration. Well I will check it a bit later.. “
I am basing it on my own experience, as well as observing what happens in facebook space (the amount of time online as well as the constant updates, regular expressions of “likes” and “dislikes”.
The question I am raising is: does facebook help to satisfy “the need to belong”? Or does it create the illusion of bellongingness, together with those obsesive impulses that cause many regular users constantly get online and check “whats new”, what happened to whom, and are there any pictures..?
Few other possible excurses:
the similarities with: soap operas, news portals like www.delfi.lt
the addictive tendencies with all its usual denials, obsessions, satisfactions, etc..
On the other side, maybe for some (most?) the usual social spaces does not exist anymore, and thus facebook is the only and the best enviroment to “keep in touch”, “belong”. For example, for the lonely immigrant in UK keeping in touch with fellows around the globe or the graduate of philosophy that still can’t existentially fit in his/her new corportate job enviroment, using his work hours to connect throught facebook with his/her mates.
Of course, the question could arise whether the facebook phenomena had something to do with accelarating the erasure of those traditional social spaces, rituals, etc..
Is the facebook neutral on this? Is it just a tool? Or contrary, it universaly effect its users one way or the other..
As I said in the beginning, it is not an article of mine, but rather, few working ideas, which I am pondering upon. Maybe someone has to add, subtract or correct on this..
