What is Facebook?

[binocular]

go away facebook

I deleted mine about ten years ago.

[rightviewftw]

go away facebook

I deleted mine about ten years ago.

way ahead of the curve then

[binocular]

From what I've seen it mostly is trivial.

Not to those people.

The things that to a Buddhist may seem "trivial", are often of vital importance to *gasp* normal people.

For example, it's the season for blessing motorbikes here:



That is, bikers (many of them in proper black leather biker outfits) gather up in hundreds in front of Catholic churches and the Catholic priests bless those bikes. Sometimes, even the priests wear biker vests over their official religious outfit.
...

Sharing personal problems with friends and family is one thing, but broadcasting them to a world of strangers is another thing entirely - it seems strange to me.

I think such public sharing can have a cathartic effect. Some of the popular predecessors of such public sharing were US talk shows, where not only celebrities, but also ordinary people would talk about their personal problems to large audiences.

Psychologically, talking about a problem to strangers can help the person to gain distance from that problem and even find a solution to it. However, with new communication technologies that make it possible for the conversation to be easily stored and accessed by many, that once helpful method of talking to strangers can backfire.

[Circle5]

In Romania the church actually made the blessing of car ceremony as an official, legit ceremony of the church with specific instructions a couple of years ago. Blessing your car may cost anywhere from just 12$ to 100$ or even more, depending on the car. The more expensive the car the more expensive the blessing because it takes god more energy to protect it.

But in Russia they are blessing tanks, helichopters, ak-47s, missiles, etc. All sorts of military equipment are individually blessed in Russia so we can never top that.

[Dhammanando]

That is, bikers (many of them in proper black leather biker outfits) gather up in hundreds in front of Catholic churches and the Catholic priests bless those bikes. Sometimes, even the priests wear biker vests over their official religious outfit.

Impressively efficient of Holy Mother Church to bless them in large batches like that. In Thailand I've only ever seen monks blessing individual motorcycles.

[Saengnapha]

That is, bikers (many of them in proper black leather biker outfits) gather up in hundreds in front of Catholic churches and the Catholic priests bless those bikes. Sometimes, even the priests wear biker vests over their official religious outfit.

Impressively efficient of Holy Mother Church to bless them in large batches like that. In Thailand I've only ever seen monks blessing individual motorcycles.

We have more individual art work along with the blessings.

[Justsit]

Now it's confirmed that Big Brother really is watching. Facebook tracks you even if you’re not a user

"Facebook collects “data of people who have not signed up for Facebook” for security reasons." Whose security??
Disturbing stuff.

[binocular]

Now it's confirmed that Big Brother really is watching. Facebook tracks you even if you’re not a user

"Facebook collects “data of people who have not signed up for Facebook” for security reasons." Whose security??
Disturbing stuff.

Like karma.



Surely people would be far less concerned about what FB etc. are doing, if they would care more about karma.

[Bundokji]

Surely people would be far less concerned about what FB etc. are doing, if they would care more about karma.

[Spiny Norman]

Now it's confirmed that Big Brother really is watching. Facebook tracks you even if you’re not a user

When will Facebook become self-aware, and decide that humans are a pest to be got rid of?

[alan]

I like Facebook. Allows me to post pretty pictures. People like them.
What is wrong with that? Only thing I can say is that they used to let me get 3,000 likes, but now only 300. They want me to advertise. I'll do it when I have a calendar to sell.

[Subharo]

I'd like to take a crack at answering the OP.

This is what Facebook is. It's distilled bhava. It's "becoming" in crack cocaine form. It's a virtual factory which primarily generates identity view: sakkāya-diṭṭhi, the first of the ten fetters ("belief in a self"). It lets you very easily weave a sense of identity, based on what you decide to post. Then other people (whom you might or might not know) reify that constructed identity by pressing the "like" button. This feedback gives people little hits of dopamine, and conditions them to want to build up that sense of self all the stronger, as it's a source of happy juices to do so. In this way, sakkāya-diṭṭhi becomes strongly conditioned.

These are the real addicts who will have the hardest time ever closing their Facebook accounts no matter how much scandal Facebook might stir up. Where will they get their easy hits of dopamine from (if they no longer have a small crowd of "friends" peppering them with "likes")?

From MN 128: "Corruptions"

Dolts pretending to be astute,
they talk, their words right out of bounds.
They blab at will, their mouths agape,
and no-one knows what leads them on.

Emphasis added there, as I think it's bhava which leads them on: continually constructing a sense of identity through what is posted (and how much social attention, and re-assurance of their existence and likeability, which can be garnered through such postings).

(Note: Many such Facebook-related scandals in fairly recent news linked to here and here and here and here.)

[santa100]

+1. And worst, FB members aren't aware that they're being used like batteries to power the great machine empire and bring billions in USD profit to Mr. Zuck, the "architect". We truly are living in "The Matrix":

phpBB .

[thadubz]

This is what Facebook is. It's distilled bhava. It's "becoming" in crack cocaine form. It's a virtual factory which primarily generates identity view: sakkāya-diṭṭhi, the first of the ten fetters ("belief in a self"). It lets you very easily weave a sense of identity, based on what you decide to post. Then other people (whom you might or might not know) reify that constructed identity by pressing the "like" button. This feedback gives people little hits of dopamine, and conditions them to want to build up that sense of self all the stronger, as it's a source of happy juices to do so. In this way, sakkāya-diṭṭhi becomes strongly conditioned.