To begin: When the fan on my laptop makes this much noise, I half expect it to blast into space. I wonder how the Geek Squad would handle that. As I'm sure many of you can relate, the fan goes crazy when you watch too many YouTube videos. But sometimes, I feel that the laptop is merely responding to the quality of what you just watched as opposed to the quantity of what you just watched. With that being said, I can only assume that my laptop didn't know what to do with me YouTubing a song from Rent.
Last week I attempted to blog about something that legitimately interests me, but I got distracted by cats or fruit or something and I just "didn't have it in me." I'm back now, with a little less fire/intrigue for the topic but I'll give it a shot anyway. Why do we like things on Facebook? And I mean this in the literal clicking the "like" button sense. What compels us to click it? I like things all the time, and I of course appreciate having posts liked in return, so I'm surely not putting anyone down for doing or not doing it. I've come up with some ideas as to why we like the things we do, none of them really being a definite answer. I thought that I should share.
You're being an asshole. For awhile I assumed that all Facebook likes were rooted in some kind of disingenuous sociopathy. Which is terrible, I know, but it's too easy to just hit the "like" button then laugh to yourself about how much you don't like it. And if you don't supply a qualifying statement with your "like" in reference to things that should never be liked (breakups, bad days, deaths, etc.) then you are, actually, kind of an asshole. So when I see someone's picture with 33 likes on it, I can't help but wonder how many of those are done ironically, perhaps in an effort to piss off a third party who had an issue with the party in the picture. Do you know what I mean? "Did you see that new picture of him and his new girlfriend?" "Yup, and I liked it." Point. Made. But obviously not all Facebook likes can be attributed to merely messing with people. So maybe...
You're being sincere. Which is awesome if you are. The "like" button seems so straight forward; if you like it, you click it. But, as mentioned above, that's not always the case. I've noticed that most people who are sincerely wishing someone the best will leave a comment or, best yet, send a private message so they can fully express how much they like it. The "like" button has become a default option and I'm the first to admit it. If you don't really know how to respond but you want to acknowledge that you saw it, you "like" it. Again, I think this only happens sometimes, OF COURSE I think it's done sincerely. But if you're not always being ironic but you're not always being nice then...
You feel obligated. The best way to show loyalty is to support publicly, and nothing is more public than Facebook. Like all of the profile pictures: you are a good friend. Don't like all of the profile pictures: you are a bad friend. Never before have we been able to quantify friendship and now the "like" button finally enables us to visually compare who is a better friend than whom. Take for example my college's senior thesis project. Every single senior has to complete one in order to graduate. As you can imagine, everybody (my self included) posts about turning it in. If you aren't finished with your own yet, odds are you don't actually like this piece of information. It sounds petty but it's true. But you like the post anyway. You don't want to but you know that someone will bring up the point that you didn't publicly "like" it, which means that you are mad, bitter, jealous and so on and so forth. The same can be said about people who get engaged. I'm sure the bride or groom-to-be has a friend or two who is WAITING around for his/her partner to pop the question and the thought of someone else getting a ring invokes heartburn and nausea. But the news is liked anyway. Why? You're a jerk if you don't. And then...
You like to like stuff. We all have these characters hiding in our friends list. They like everything. Sometimes you forget how you even know this person, but they like your song lyrics, inside jokes, pictures of your cats, random outbursts. They like it all. I haven't made sense of this one yet. Best friends, crushes, peripheral friends, love interests, friend crushes, acquaintances; at the very least, a small narrative can be developed as to why they "like' something of yours. It's the strangers that are tricky. Maybe they're being sincere, which is great, but still confusing.
I really started thinking about this a month or so ago when everybody graduated and my newsfeed was inundated with announcements. This by no means bothered me; I'm a recent grad, too. But everything was "liked," waaaaay up into the double digits, and I just started asking this question. And then, because we must share a mind, a pal (ZJ) posted something a long the lines of "What do I have to do to get a like on my status? Graduate, have a baby, or run a marathon, it seems." And I thought that was really funny because it's kind of true. But this spirals into the discussion of "Why do we post what we post on Facebook/Twitter?" and that is far larger than simply dissecting why the likers like what they like. I think it's fair to assume that I'm pretty cynical. Why else would I question being supported by my friends or others being supported by their friends? I'm not totally wary of anyone's intentions, I really am just interested in everyone's standard for committing to the "like." And no, I will not be sharing mine.
Though you should know that I just liked the following status:
When I use a typewriter, I always type in the voice of Jeff Goldblum, not sure why.
That more or less finishes that discussion, though I realize it answers nothing, not even for myself. Facebook makes friendship fascinating; it's kind of redefined it, if not totally restructured it. Don't even get me started on how many times I've fielded questions pertaining to why my boyfriend and I are not in a Facebook relationship. Apparently it's not real if it's not public, and it also means that we must not like each other very much if we don't want to "admit" to being together. For anyone who's ever seen us together: you're totally right. Not a whole lot going on between us.
Anyway, social media; what a weird thing. You should ask me about InstaGram.
Now go give Gulag Orkestrar another listen! For whatever reason, Beirut was just what I needed on this 90-degree-and-rising Sunday and my compy calmed down as soon as the first track started. Did you know that one of the band's major musical influences is a Baltic trumpeter named Boban Markovic? I assume we're related.
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