Facebook, A Magrittean Reality

Among the amazing collection held at the Los Angeles County Museum Of Art (LACMA) is René Magritte's "The Treachery of Images." In it, he realistically depicted a pipe, only to write underneath it, Ceci n'est pas une pipe, French for "this is not a pipe." This was not a contradiction in terms.He intended from the beginning to demonstrate that the painting was only the depiction of a pipe, not the real thing."Just try to stuff it," he famously said.

It recently occurred to me that the same happens with Facebook. Not long ago I accepted a "friend request" from a man that I don't know in person. He usually makes pleasant status updates (to which I comment) and posts videos of music that I "like." By coincidence I saw him on the street, and recognizing his picture, I tried to salute him. But all I got was an awkward, forced nod; he quickly looked away and kept going. Clearly, we didn't really know each other. Facebook is not society, it is a depiction of society. I have directly known of people who spend most of their waking hours checking statuses, posting updates, and liking others people's posts. But sitting in front of a screen and clicking on the mouse will never substitute the warmth of real personal interactions. Ce n'est pas la société. Just try to shake the screen's hand.

What do you think? I'd love to read your comments.