Sophomore engineering and materials science major
As I write this, I am very tempted to click over to my browser and, from muscle memory, hit the Facebook icon in my bookmarks to see if someone liked my clever post, messaged me or posted a funny picture within the five minutes since my last visit. I suspect I’m not the only one who is easily distracted by Facebook, the ultimate procrastinating tool.
Yet checking Facebook too much may do more than waste time. A recent German study linked Facebook usage with increased loneliness and envy, which makes sense. People typically post the awesome parts of their lives on Facebook — hanging out with friends, going on vacation, receiving awards, etc. I’m sure most people would rather be doing these things than checking Facebook, so when we see them from our friends on our newsfeed, we feel inferior.
As humans, we need community to be happy, and Facebook appears to fulfill that need. Yet, if we use Facebook as our social interaction fix, we can quickly find ourselves obsessing over how many people “liked” our picture or how many “friends” we have.
Facebook is an excellent tool for communication, but it is just that: a tool. It’s not a source of happiness — that is more elusive. Many of history’s greatest (pre-Facebook) minds have considered the best way to pursue happiness — something we don’t always consciously think about. One of my favorites, Aristotle, thought that, in order to “live well,” we must become virtuous.
We often associate freedom with happiness: If I could do whatever I want, whenever I want, without anyone trying to stop me, I would be happy. Our idea of freedom is life without restraints. Yet Aristotle says virtue, which dictates our actions, leads to happiness. So which is right?
In the course of writing this column I have interrupted my train of thought by checking Facebook at least three or four times. I know this hinders my goals of making this column interesting and useful, yet for some reason I did it anyway. Anyone who has a computer with Internet is “free” to check Facebook, but does this lead to real freedom? Obviously not in my case. When I can’t stop myself from checking Facebook every few moments, even when it is detrimental to my goals, I am not free — I am hindered by myself.
Virtue makes us internally free to do what we know is right and do it with ease. Virtuous people are not plagued with temptations to check Facebook constantly; they desire to check it when and only when it is prudent. They do not even need to lock themselves out of Facebook in order to stop wasting time because they instinctively enjoy Facebook and other pleasures only as much as they are beneficial.
Though it is not virtue, forcing ourselves to give up Facebook completely is the first step. In the midst of my high school senioritis, I became obsessed with a video game, playing and talking about it constantly. When I realized it was hurting my grades, I gave it up cold turkey, and within a couple of weeks I didn’t even want to play it anymore. If you can’t stop yourself from overusing Facebook or anything else, I encourage you to join me in giving it up. That is what is necessary to break habitual overuse and begin to form new habits of prudence and temperance. These new habits and virtues will give us true freedom, and thereby lead to happiness.
Matt Rice is a sophomore engineering and materials sciences major. He can be reached at matthew.rice.d@gmail.com.
