Letter to an Intelligent Friend and an Intellectual Puzzle (Essay Sample)

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Letter to an Intelligent Friend and an Intellectual Puzzle
Social networking sites have changed the world in ways no one anticipated. Whether the changes are positive or negative, the answer depends on whoever one asks. In particular, Facebook has been a hit ever since its inception in 2007. Zadie Smith provides a thought-provoking review of a film, The Social Network, which primarily unleashes a way of thinking about ways in which Facebook changes people and society. In this letter, I avail an intellectual puzzle that dissects this text with the help of two other readings: Company Profile, Facebook Inc. and Social support on Facebook: the Influence of Tie Strength and Gender Differences.
First, the brain behind the idea of Facebook remains a debatable subject. Even so, Jesse Eisenberg, who plays the character Zuckerberg, is a perfect representation of the true personality. Back in the days at Harvard, Zadie recalls how Zuckerberg adored solitude, only feeling ‘free’ when in front of his laptop (40). The programming genius had an idea that he devoted every energy on, and never saw the need to study other subjects. Eisenberg depicts these features in every sense; the boredom when other people speak, a passive-aggressive flat-line voice, and a barely suppressed smirk, among others. Just how this character comes to influence the entire world with a simple idea of connection is the subject of Zadie’s text.
Many do not stop to think about the extent to which ‘connection’ affects an individual. Zuckerberg had a vision of an open internet that people connect freely. Nevertheless, there are concerns about sharing of information a person may deem ‘private.’ Just who gets to see what in this online platform? (Zadie 45). Apparently, you join a group, and every close friend knows about it. What are the consequences? An individual is free to become who and what he chooses because society provides the freedom. Whatever a person becomes is his or her concern and people do so in their terms. Interesting to point is that Facebook forgot this necessity. The addictive nature of Facebook is so deeply rooted that giving it up is much harder than starting.
To an extent, Facebook turns life into a database. The majority does not understand the basics of an information system. Information systems require information to operate, and information usually misrepresents reality. Zadie’s main concern is the extent to which Facebook uses its users for the owner’s gains. We understand that having a thousand friends is not what it seems. Facebook users use the software to think and behave in a defined way. A complementary study by Luarn et al. asks, "How do people define their online relationships?" (1). Luarn et al. sought to determine the extent to which ‘friends’ on Facebook still offer social support to one another. Two main factors determine friendship in Facebook: tie strength and gender issues. Zadie says that we are unaware of what the software is doing to us. We are locked in a software to which no one seems attentive. All that Facebook users desire is to connect and nothing more. In essence, how many people ever ask, "Does the software fulfill our needs?”
As an intellect, one ought to question the values that Zuckerberg upholds and whether they are the true representation of reality. It all boils down to how life has changed with the internet. Zadie says, "We lived on farms, then in cities, and now we are living on the internet." Just the kind of life this is turning out to be remains a mystery. A life where one decides to do something only because over 500 connected people is doing the same. The basics of life are that ‘you have to be somebody’ before you can ‘share yourself’ (Zadie 47). A look at Zuckerberg shows that he holds different opinions, and wrongly so. He prefers a life where people share their opinions with everyone to be ‘somebody.’ Facebook is successfully creating an ‘internet with one mind’ (Zadie 11). We have a social site that makes nearly 500 million people think, in the same way, which is far from what society ought to be.
Amidst all these, Facebook Inc. thrives as ...