Oh my Facebook

I'm using an article entitled “The Librarian as Video Game Player” (Kirriemuir, 2006) for an INF1300 Annotated Bibliography project, and I thought it brought up an interesting argument. Kirriemuir states that gamers are typically capable of multi-tasking, of using sophisticated information-locating resources (online and offline), of installing hardware, and of using social networking tools effectively (all of which happen to be fairly relevant skills in a library). I narcissistically like to think that I possess many of these strengths, save one.

Yes, in a futile effort to recover my humanity, I have deleted my Facebook account. I hope I don't come across here as someone who thinks he is “above” social networking sites, but part of it had to do with the way people whip out their smartphones in the middle of social gatherings. Another part of it had to do with the fact that I don't actually care how well my friends are doing in Farmville. The list goes on but I'm pretty certain I'll have to reactivate at some point, for some reason or another. It's simply too ingrained in our culture.

I thought this topic was quite relevant to the Orgad article, since the blurring of lines between online and offline lately seem fairly substantial. I would agree that the Internet is an extension of people's lives, and that studying online/offline in conjunction could yield valuable insights, depending on the research question.

-Martin