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#10YearChallenge - Facebook Has Changed

Keenen Charles

Jan 14, 2019 — 2 min read

The #10YearChallenge might be the first non-negative (I hesitate to say positive just yet) thing to happen on Facebook in a long time. It's interesting to reflect on yourself ten years ago and see how much has changed and how much has stayed the same. This article on the Verge does a great job of looking at how our relationship with Facebook has changed in that time. It made me look at how my own Facebook usage has changed in those years.

My Facebook Experience

In 2009 I was more willing to share any and everything online. I was still in high school and Facebook felt like school away from school. Before social media, summer vacations were isolating months to me spent mostly with family and a handful of friends from the neighbourhood.

In Trinidad, most people don't go to a school near where they live. At age 11, you select five schools you'd like to attend then you write an exam and you're assigned one of those schools based on your results. The better schools aren't always near where you live. So when vacation came you'd probably not see any of your school friends in those months.

Facebook filled that void. It was a new experience and fun. There were super long comment threads, back and forth wall posts, and finding new friends. It was a place you wanted to visit all day.

Today

Ten years later it feels a bit different. You can still do all of those things, and lots of people do every day, but it doesn't feel the same to me. News, videos, & memes dominate my feed now. There's not as many sincere status updates and candid photos. Other services are used for those functions now. But it's weird visiting a place you used to love when that feeling is gone.

Facebook has changed a lot but so have we. We're more aware of what we do online, and who can find it. Our social media image has become a lot more valuable. We're all ten years older and maybe wiser. Facebook doesn't feel the same and neither do we. Whether that's a good or bad thing, I have no idea. Ask me again in ten years.

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