Background of the Study
I tried stopping myself by switching to Instagram but people there are not as friendly. It's hard to think of any comments on most people's pictures so I just give them hearts all the time. Then, I can't actively participate on IG if I don't have a nice picture to post. I can post selfies but I'm drawing the line of my insanity there. The world has greater pictures to see than my face. Facebook is a more welcoming, interactive and exciting place, I realize.
Hypothesis
Because I spent so much time on Facebook, I connected posts to Sigmund Freud's model of the psyche. Remember your lesson on Psych 101 on the Id, Ego and Superego? That's what I'm talking about! In a nutshell, Freud formulated that our mental life has three parts- id, ego and superego. The id is the instinctive and pleasure-seeking part of the mind. The ego is the part of the mind that's reality oriented that seeks to satisfy the id. The superego is the moral part a.k.a. conscience. Check Wikipedia if you still didn't get it.
Observation
I think that Id operates when FB posts are very random, unpurposeful, just-to-fill-the-time statuses. Example are vague and indirect posts meant for another FB friend. Posts like these just want to vent without really solving issues. Another example would be the now popular make up transformation pictures. There's really no point in them except to elicit smiles. I also think that people who posts things they want to have like "I want to see (insert artist's name/ thing/place/etc)," operates base on the Id.
The ego supercedes the other two when people post where they ate, what they ate, who ate with them, when they ate and how they ate. Drop the word "ate", replace it with another verb and that's what ego statuses are. I noticed that this is the most common type of statuses. Which is good because it means that most of my friends are in their right mind. They're reflecting reality albeit, a filtered and enhanced one.
Posts that are meant to moralize and elicit an action are based on the workings of the Superego. When videos meant to inform are posted, that's Superego! When people spread reports to warn the public, when people seek assistance for another human being and when people encourage others in their posts. those are the works of the superego.
Analysis and Conclusion
When I checked my posts the past two weeks, I realized that most of them are based on the operations of my Id. Why? Because nothing's really exciting happened the last two weeks. I was mostly home with my white huggable bear. I fear I started hallucinating. This should be a warning for those whose posts are mostly id-based. Go out and get a life!
For those whose posts are mostly based on the ego, that's fine, I guess. But maybe, please post less? Just because you don't post it doesn't mean it didn't happen. You don't owe people every second of your life. And for those whose posts are superego based, what are you, a god? Meet people and have a good time. Life's too short to think about all the cares of the world.
Footnote: The picture on this entry is an example of an ego-based FB post.
Acknowledgement
I'd like to thank all my FB friends who unknowingly gave me subjects for observation. Without you, FB friends, I wouldn't have this entry. Without you, Facebook wouldn't be the same.
I'm also acknowledging the fact that this entry is a product of a my awesome and bored mind. I'm happy, vacation will be over soon and my illusions will come to an end.
