Face to Face Communication on Facebook

The social network has become a pop culture revolution, this social media has made people more or less connected with each other since the people who use social network such as facebook or twitter. Usually people would communicate through social network rather than a conversation face to face. I believe that communication through social network makes us less social as some people would describe their lives in a blog or social journals. With social journals they have their lives posted online which communicate to the friends or readers about their day. I had an experience where my friend has a twitter, and when I called him to talk he would then ask me, “have you read my blog” or “go read my blog”. I have always hated it when he tells me to go read his blog because it makes me care less about his life if I’m not hearing it from him personally. I feel less connected to him if since I’m not hearing his voice. The other problem I have with social network is that knowing everything about my friends’ life without them telling me makes me feel like I’m spying on them or stalking them, so when I see them in person I would know everything that’s going on in their lives. I would always think that they would question me on how I know so much about them. Eventually though, I got used to the idea of people using social network such as facebook or twitter and even though I may not like the ideas of how social networking works, I would always suggest to some of my friends to humor me about what they did last weekend. I just have to get used to the fact that we are living in an age where people are comfortable sharing their lives to the millions of readers online.

My Cave and My Friend

Plato’s analogy of the cave can be related to everyone in many different ways, such example is my own experience toward another person.  A few years back, I firmly believed that I can help people out by trying my best to encourage them reach their goal.  When I was still in community college and fresh out of high school, I always had the dream that I would continue my schooling with one of my close friends, Mr. K.  Mr. K had shown interest in attending collage but did not have as strong the desire to go as I did.  I thought  that hleping him out would help him get his act together.  What had ended up happening was that I would give Mr. K rides from his house to school.  As time passed, he ended up quitting going to classes, and for years I had put my own education to a slower pace in order to get him to go.  However, the results would always be fruitless.  I had always thought that I could get him to go to school but later on i realized that the end result will always be the same and that I cannot change him and the only person that would change him would be himself.  In the end, I had no choice but to quit on him and shifted the focus more on my own studies. I would only hope that in the future Mr. K will change his way of thinking.  

I can relate several of Plato’s symbols in his allegory cave to my experience with my friend.  Starting off with the idea of the cave, I think that I was the one in that cave since I was so confident in getting Mr. K back to school but ended up failing, and my shadow would be my ego as it got the best of me saying that I can be the one that can get him back to school and so I became my own prisoner.  The puppeteer would be myself since I let myself be convinced that I can help my friend out.  When I was exposed to the things that I’ve been doing I realized that all those efforts I have put into helping him never worked, and this path I took prevented me from going  forward with my own life.  I was blinded by the fact that I could make a difference in Mr. K’s  life and by giving up on him brought me sadness and pain knowing that nothing will change¸ leaving him to his self-destruction.  Knowing gave me a sense of freedom, and the things Mr. K did give me was the realization of things I should not do in life and I would try to avoid what he has done so I can move on.  In the end I have to return knowing the fact that my friend would always be the same and the only way for him to change is by helping him help his own self.