Social Efficiency in the Age of Facebook

If you were in school during the 50s (ahem) or 60s you probably remember some of the videos we were shown in school. Purveyors of the social efficiency movement taught us how to watch out for Commies, walk safely down the street, and brush our teeth. Remember, "Reefer Madness" was really intended as an instructional film to warn kids off the evils of marijuana, under the title "Tell Your Children."

But the films were not always like that. I fondly remember the Bell Labs films (produced by Frank Kapra) "Our Mr. Sun" (1956), "Hemo the Magnificent" (1957), "The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays" (1957), and "The Unchained Goddess" (1958).

I wonder what Dr. Research would think about this...

 ...from Your Tango:   

Meet Alice. She has just arrived home from a hard day at work. She switches on her computing machine and looks to see what her friends have been up to on Facebook, the electric friendship generator.

First, she checks in to see what Timmy’s been up to. Alice and Timmy have been going steady for six months and she thinks he's a real swell guy. Alice hasn't spoken to Timmy since last evening and can't wait to see what his day was like.

That's funny.

At 2:05 this morning, Timmy changed his relationship status from "in a relationship" to "single.”

Even more curious, he became friends with Donna Whitehouse at 2:07 a.m.

Timmy just bungled rule #1 of Facebook relationship etiquette: Don't change your relationship status without consulting the other person. What a dope....