The cited article addresses Facebook’s ever-expanding influence on the
choices and lifestyles of America’s users.
Indeed, one study found that a specialized Election Day message posted
to the social networking site “generated 340,000 additional votes nationwide.” Apparently, the Election Day message
displayed to each user images of friends who had voted earlier that day. Eager to imitate their friends, hundreds of
thousands of Facebookers joined the ranks of voting Americans.
Convinced that this is a pervasive issue, scientists are proposing
further studies that link weight loss to social networking as well. As a professor of medical genetics and
political science noted, “What we have shown here is that the online world and
the real world affect one another.”
With a bombastic flourish, researchers designate this trend the “social
contagion effect.”
Truthfully, I am surprised that such an obvious issue merits a New York
Times article, let alone independent research at prestigious institutions. People imitating people… Why is this suddenly a novel discovery? What else is man supposed to imitate if not
his neighbor? His daughter’s hermit
crab?
If we didn’t imitate one another, why in the world would parents
perpetually parrot that wretched bridge expression? Of course we mimic the actions of our
friends. Of course our mimicry is surging
now that we possess uninterrupted cyber-access to the choices and activities of
those friends. Of course, of course, of
course.
If social networking motivates people to vote and live healthily, then
no. If, however, it encourages users to
abandon their true identities and adopt the behaviors and preferences of their
Facebook friends, then yes. Indubitably,
yes.
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