Studying or working abroad, thousands of kilometres away from friends and family. Homesickness can be really bad. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter can ease the pain, but the intensity of contact with home can also make matters worse.
By Klaas den Tek and Heleen Sittig
Homesickness
A longing - sometimes melancholic, sometimes painful - for the security of something familiar.
It can happen to anyone. Migrants who leave their home countries. Children who are away from home for the first time. Elderly people for whom changes sometimes go too quickly. This summer Radio Netherlands Worldwide has produced a series of stories, tips and recipes on the theme of homesickness. A universal longing for something that is not there.
Facebook and Skype
Facebook has half a billion active users across the planet. Around 5 million newcomers join each week. Half of these active users check out the site every day. The average Facebook user has 130 friends. Thirty percent of users live in the US. Skype has 20 million users.
There are no hard statistics. It appears, however, that social networking sites have taken on an extra dimension for migrants. Facebook and the like make it easy for them to keep up contact with friends and family.
They keep up to date with the lives of people it’s difficult to speak to or see and can even share their own ups and downs with those they’ve left behind. Former classmates dispersed around the world chat together just like they did when they were 12. Facebook and Skype allow users to watch the children of old friends grow up. And, if they post a photo of their new hairstyle, they immediately receive compliments - or criticism.
Grandparents
Facebook was started by American students, but increasingly its users include people of all ages, and now even includes the grandparents of those first Facebook pioneers. That goes for the other social networking sites as well.
Radio Netherlands Worldwide asked whether social media can really help combat homesickness. Here are just some of the reactions we received.
Jeroen (Hawaii)
”I think my world has become a bit bigger thanks to the advent of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Waze and other social media. Take the World Cup, for example. Without Facebook, I’d have had to watch without responses from fellow fans.”
Nube (Barcelona, Spain)
”I’m not an addict, but I must admit I’ve been able to trace a lot of friends and colleagues thanks to Facebook. People I lost touch with when I moved abroad. It’s nice to know what they’re up to on a daily basis. It makes me feel closer to them.”
Isrifianty (Indonesia)
”Sometimes all those photos on Facebook make me miss home even more.”
Camille (Thailand)
”The world has become much smaller, especially thanks to Skype.”
Cheley (East Portland, US)
”I took a course in the Netherlands last month. I used Facebook on a daily basis to keep in touch with friends and to send photos. I also wrote a blog about my experiences. Facebook really helped me cope with my homesickness.”
Jessica (England)
”It's great for keeping in touch, but the problem with Facebook and homesickness is seeing what all your friends are up to while you are away and knowing you can't get in on it from the other side of the world. It was nice to be Skyped into a party though, it was almost like attending.”
Mikel (Suriname)
”I have been able to trace many old friends and family members thanks to social media.”
Tamara (Madrid, Spain)
”It’s a source of news about what’s happening back home while you are abroad. But there’s a drawback too. It sometimes makes you feel nostalgic.”
Yvonne (Johns Creek, US)
”I used to write long letters by hand. Letters that sometimes got lost in the mail. All that has now been replaced by fantastic Facebook. It enables me to keep up to date much more effectively with family and friends, especially the ones who are not great letter writers. I’m not exaggerating when I say I wouldn’t want to live without Facebook anymore.”
Saskia (UK)
”Facebook has made it really easy for me to keep in touch with friends abroad for the last four or five years. Social media don’t have any effect in terms of homesickness. It’s not something I’m bothered by.”
Linda (Italy)
”I was only persuaded to join Facebook last year, by my sister-in-law in the US. Looking back, I’m very grateful to her, as it’s enabled me to get in touch with old school friends again. I’ve lived abroad for 31 years, but it’s only in the last few years that I’ve started to feel homesick.”
Wilhelma (Caribbean)
”I can’t say I’m bothered by homesickness, but it does give me a real kick to communicate with my contacts all over the world on a daily basis.”
Kursito (Indonesia)
”It can help you cope with homesickness. But nothing can replace actually meeting your friends and loved ones again.”
Links to social networking sites:
Facebook
Linked in
Hyves
Twitter
Foursquare
Skype
World Waze
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Hollywood stars wage war against Facebook, Twitter.--London, July 26, 2010
Several Hollywood stars including Jennifer Aniston, George Clooney, Miley Cyrus and Drew Barrymore have waged a war against social networking websites. As Facebook registered its 500 millionth member, the celebrities fear the growing link to sex crimes against children and underage abductions,
Daily Express reported.
In one high-profile case in the US, a 48-year-old man allegedly kidnapped a 13-year-old girl after lying about his age online and asking her to go out on a 'date'.
"I'm urging kids, don't go on the Internet. It's not fun; it's dangerous," said teen sensation Miley Cyrus, a former 'web addict'.
Some of the celebrities are also enraged over bogus home pages in their names.
"I would rather have a prostate exam on live television by a guy with very cold hands than have a Facebook page," said Clooney
And it can also spy on you!
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