[royster]

While in the past 50 years communication has become easier and easier, the content of communication has deteriorated. HOW we communicate is essential to the overall growth of all. When this growth is affected by slang, abreviation and trivia, it stops being meaningful and beneficial.

While it is true that the internet brought us immediate information, much (if not most) of that information is virtually impossible to convey reasonably on Facebook. "LOL" means nothing to me, nor are any of the other cyber-speak cutsies meaningful or enduring.

If you look at the design of Facebook, you cannot promote a meaningful exchange, unless you devalue your communication skills. Honing them doesn't help, as you really only get a few seconds of notice at any time. By calling it a "social network" Facebook passes itself off as a good thing. I see it as a diminishing of language, communication and focus...deliberately.

You're free to think what you want, but you might want to make sure it is YOU doing the thinking, and not the subliminal messages of those who strive to keep you dumbed down.