The day we wake up and Facebook is gone

Though only hypothetical, we can’t imagine life without FACEBOOK or other social media. The thought of it is mind-boggling, even catastrophic equal to a stock market crash or war in Iraq (just my exaggeration). Imagine how we panicked only with a simple brown out or water interruption? Can you feel the paranoia and how you seem to be so helpless when you leave home without your mobile phone? How much more with a possible simultaneous worldwide Facebook shutdown? Can you imagine how life on earth would be?

Who would ask you what’s on your mind? How will the world know what you’re eating for breakfast? How will your friends see your OOTD? How will your enemy know how much you hate him/her? Can you still remember your wife’s birthday… who will remind you?

It only started with the idea of comparing two student pictures side-by-side and letting them decide who was hot or not back in the early 2000. Now, it became a mandatory online profiler of each individual on the planet, almost everyone has it, as young as those who didn’t even know their parents created one for them.

And there’s really no better time for people to communicate, be updated, and be reunited than today. Facebook controls almost all of people’s actions and reactions nowadays… we can easily become gullible and we can also become critical. We can sometimes become sensitive and we can also become cynical. Unconsciously, we even felt obligated to post a selfie or a foodie before taking the first bite of our meal. Meetings aren’t complete without a groupie and its much easier to LIKE or COMMENT on a photo than read an article or blog. We also saw the rise of political analysts, sports analysts, investment experts, nationalists, trolls and those who just love to read comments. Recently, social media has developed into a platform for one to become viral, famous and even significant.

But then, we really can’t underestimate the so many wonderful things that social media has done for us. It made life easier, people closer, information accessible… and at times, future husband and wife meet. No wonder Facebook has become one of the most important human inventions in the 21st century.

But the recent Facebook threats already gave us a warning signal that no one’s ready to lose their grip on it. The truth can be very discreet with simple words like “better to be safe than sorry”. But affecting the decisions of many of our friends, no matter how others are already shouting it was just a hoax, seemed to be a loud manifestation of fear and anxiety. Yesterday was literally a downpour, not only of rains in the Philippines, but of different versions of pranks released even few years back which flooded our timelines.

The day that we will wake up without social media (assuming, for the purposes of discussion)… is the very same day before they were being created. LIFE IS SIMPLE. People were talking to each other. Nobody really cared about anyone’s breakfast, or their OOTD or what they’re doing ATM.

While it could be a big loss to many (if it happens, which I bet won’t happen at least in the near future unless it fails to innovate), I just hope that we still find more ways to live our life than just through it. Let’s not lose our grip of reality and our sense of judgement since these media are created for us to control them and not the other way around.

Time and time again, i always remind myself to “face The Book before Facebook” and refer to it always for guidance on how to succeed in life:

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” -Joshua 1:8 (NIV)