
Image Source: Mashable
The Zuck has spoken, Facebook Home is upon us, but what is it and would I use it?
Facebook Home is an app that is integrated into the operating system of your android phone, so that all Facebook communication tools are at the front of the device. Tools such as 3G calling, messaging and email are all integrated into the ‘skin’, which makes Facebook the first thing users see when they turn on their mobile.
Without having actually tried Facebook Home I can’t pass too much opinion, but what I will put forward is my natural assumption, that Facebook is well and truly taking over our lives! The Facebook business model, I’m almost certain, must contain the term ‘intrusion’ somewhere within its core principle. I know there have been periods in my life where I can only liken my dependency on Facebook to crack addiction. I’ve even notice my thumb takes on a life of its own once my iPhone is unlocked, it’s drawn as though magnetised to the little blue square, even though it was my voicemail I wanted to check in the first instance.
Well now, instead of my overworked thumb having to make SUCH an effort to navigate, I simply press the ‘home’ button on my android to see a stream of friends’ posts on my news feed. How amazing! Just lighting up my phone at work will present me with an instant update of my friends travelling the world, basking in glorious sunshine while I sit here admiring what a lovely Winter we are having this Spring, or that there’s another baby, puppy, engagement or marriage. Yep fantastic, sign me up.
Or not.
I really can’t imagine anything worse. Recently, the intrusive/schizophrenic nature of my own iPhone has lead me to question my loyalty to the Apple cult, manifested by the more simplistic, nostalgic memories of my old Nokia with it’s dot matrix screen and snake game. Life was so simple then.
“With Home, everything on your phone gets friendlier”… that just sounds creepy.
“…you see a steady stream of friends’ posts and photos”… I see enough as it is, thanks.
I love the thought of sitting in a meeting and pressing the home button to check the time and lets say, for demonstration’s sake, ‘Dave’ (we’ve all got one) has gone and posted another of his classic drunken weekend arse shots. Unfortunately, the poignant lack of Facebook censorship I have noticed recently leads me to question, just why would I want to openly display associates posts and photo’s for people in my immediate space to witness?
“Keep chatting with friends, even when you’re using other apps” This is where I’m coming from with the Schizophrenic thing.
schiz·o·phre·ni·a Noun informal “behaviour that appears to be motivated by contradictory or conflicting principles”
Switching constantly from one medium to another makes me feel dizzy. It also completely switches me off from reality, lessens my productivity and Facebook itself forces me to compare my life to others in a way I never would in the real world.
Waking up early on a Saturday morning, feeling great, then before you know it, it’s noon. Where has that 3 hours of Internet/Facebook trawling just got me in life? What could have done in that 3 hours? The answer is quite simple…. Live.
I’m being completely duped into believing that I am living, yet here I am sat on my bed, completely and utterly detached from life’s beautiful simplicities.
Whilst I appreciate the complexity and power of Facebook as a marketing tool, I firmly believe that Facebook is a problem. It’s a problem to productivity both in and out of the workplace.
I will most certainly not be integrating this socially hindering tool further into my life than it already is.
VERDICT: FACEBOOK HOME FIRMLY OPPOSED.

