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Behind The Screen: The Fakebook Generation By Alice Mathias

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Behind the Screen
In the article, “The Fakebook Generation” by Alice Mathias, she states her point of view about Facebook. The author compares online users to performers and Facebook to a theatre and an entertaining show. The author calls her generation the “Fakebook Generation”, because most of the people of her generation sugarcoat their lives to their advantage by posting the best moments of their lives or filling their timeline with humor. Also one of Mathias statements were, “Dwelling online is a cowardly and utterly enjoyable alternative to real interaction” (3). Facebook is like a stage to us, and we are both the entertainers and comedians.“Dwelling online” can be enjoyable while at the same time being cowardly and fake. That’s because they won’t face real life interactions with others and communicate about their everyday lives. Instead the performers play a role on stage wearing different costumes to make others laugh. According to Mathias, online performance is just …show more content…

Alice Mathias states that older adults use Facebook for social connection, whether it's old school friends, coworkers, family or a past boyfriend or girlfriend. She states, “For young people, Facebook is yet another form of escapism; we can turn our lives into stage dramas and relationships into comedy routines” (3). It’s an escape from the real world, an escape from actually having to speak to someone and knowing everything about their life. The performers will continue their act and constantly change everything and anything while gaining more and more new audience. They will have people love them while having them fooled. Each generation has their own reasons to why they use Facebook whether it is to blindly communicate with others or to make connections. They simply want others to like the role they play. Commonly, both generations lack privacy clauses and deviate the importance of personal

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