Facebook Versus Face to Face Communication

Facebook interaction Versus Face-to-face communication

Facebook interaction is more emotionally and socially valuable and available to many these days than face-to-face communication. Facebook provides social interaction with people worldwide. It provides common interest groups and professional exposure at a global level which face-to-face communication cannot provide. It also acts as a remedy for loneliness and lack of local friends and community for many who otherwise might have very little or no face-to-face communication at all. Facebook communication is mostly warm and supportive where often face-to-face communication is often trivial and not demonstrative due to people being more reserved about showing feelings in person.

Facebook has over 1 billion daily active users and over 1.5 billion monthly active users. I am one of them since 2008. I spend several hours each day on Facebook. As an artist I have established an artist support group there which has grown to 7000 members. I would never be able to reach so many artists locally through face-to-face communication. Many have become my friends. Locally I hardly know any artists, let alone get to communicate with them regularly. When I do it is not as warm and supportive as with Facebook artist friends. I also have my art page on Facebook with 2500 followers. I get a lot of support and encouragement from them.

In addition, through Facebook I have contact with my family from all over the world. They have hardly ever visited me. They don’t phone often or write letters. I would have probably lost touch with most of them if it were not for Facebook. I can share family photos and events as well as loving comments. Of course I would prefer to talk with them in person but it seems like that option is hardly ever possible. In addition, through Facebook I have renewed contacts with old high school friends. Again, that was very unlikely to happen if it were not for Facebook. It is very comforting to be in touch with old friends that I know for so long. I have a bond and an understanding with them that I do not have with some of my local friends who are newer friends. Therefore, even though we do not have face-to-face conversations, my communication with old friends on Facebook may be a deeper type of communication than I have in my scant daily face-to- face opportunities. I have also made new friends that I have never met in person. It is much harder for me to make new friends in “real life”. People are not that eager to open up and call you their friend. However, on Facebook I get friend requests every day. Most of them are related to the art community that I belong to on Facebook. On the other hand, it seems that when I meet with one of my local friends their conversations are a lot more trivial or related to their problems, rather than to creativity and inspirational subjects. Facebook contacts are very important to me and they have become my community and my lifeline. In contrast, in my “real” life I have very few local friends despite having been very interested in making friends. Additionally, they don’t live so close to home and I do not see them often enough. They are very busy and we don’t