Facebook killed me

Alexandre des Isnards

Thomas Zuber

Paris, Sunny,

Workers' Day,

Sunday May 1st 2011,

After L’open space m’a tuer, published by Hachettes littératures in 2008, authors Alexandre des Isnards and Thomas Zuber are back with Facebook m’a tuer. We won’t, however, go back over the affair to which the title refers, which, apart from its high-profile nature and the fact that it was misspelled in a fashionable way on the web, has no real connection here. The Facebook phenomenon has struck again. Always him! We take the same (Facebook + 600 million users worldwide), and we continue to try to know/understand how the world is going – but so badly…

In just under 300 pages, you’ll be treated to a series of vitriolic vignettes and flash portraits of our inconceivable-indispensable-irreversible relationships with Facebook, Twitter, Meetic, Adopte and the list goes on and on… (http://revelelescocus.com/).

The idea: we’re scared outside, so from inside, we make others and ourselves believe that outside, no-no, everything’s under control (a wealth of news events, buddies who are so dynamic and cool in every sense, a selection of cutting-edge culture in all categories on (and visible on) the page, a tsunami of accessible and easy lovers/mistresses, hellish vacations, a job or hobbies as a killeuse/killer, a life saturated with updates, there are even people who like our lives…)…). This new way of life, already unanimously adopted by the masses but which we still dread (in the name of…) changing and the catastrophic consequences for the future, yes-yes, is injecting the digital era intravenously as a “palliative to the dimunition of traditional social ties” and to restore its image a little too. Yeah, times are tough.

And it’s probably a good idea to ask questions about a generation’s anxieties and malaise, since it’s all there: inside the famous blue page. The (security) overkill of the self. Uses, issues and after-effects of digital identity. Transitions, shifts and confusions from the unreal to the real. Spatio-temporal disorientation and loss of bearings… One thing’s for sure, though: NOBODY wants to know more.

I tested it. I took the book out, openly and repeatedly, in front of this absolutely neurotic and lost generation. In friendly, festive cafés. On summer evenings. In subway trains. In the street. I’ve even gone so far as to hold it proud and upright, and read it – at very close proximity – to modern young people concentrating on an iPhone 4… It doesn’t fail, everyone – without question – puts their heads down and keeps a low profile. It’s as if we’re all a little ashamed of pretending…

So I ask, you never know, bouteille-à-la-mer as they say, but could those who wish to earn money (through books) spare us a little by changing the subject?

Elisa Palmer

Facebook killed me

Alexandre des Isnards

Thomas Zuber

Editions NiL

18€

Cette publication est également disponible en : Français (French)