Issue date: 8/28/07 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Ganesh Rao [Click to enlarge]

Facebook has opened up a new version of correspondence, but I have to wonder, has it completely changed the way our generation communicates? Is Facebook just a phase, or is it just the beginning of our over-exposed adaptation of email?

Now that Facebook has become more like MySpace with all its new applications, it has only encouraged further addiction to time not well-spent viewing and tweaking profiles. Before you know it, your entire being is wrapped up on an 18-inch computer screen, nothing rendered for mystery. We are left victim to tagged pictures (good or bad), wall posts that are nothing less than uncouth and unexpected friend requests from people you don't know. No matter how addictive or even frivolous Facebook can be, it boils down to the fact that we simply are reaching out to the world, looking for friendship or some sort of connection just like everyone else. Yet I think we are digging ourselves a hole. Facebook is not a substantial way to endorse relationships. It's a weak excuse to avoid making an effort for face-to-face interaction.

Facebook is like the tabloids, except we write our own stories. We constantly hear of Lindsay Lohan and her repeat rehab visits, Paris Hilton's jail time, or Britney Spear's lack of clothing; trivial and unnecessary details about these people's personal lives that we feel we need to know. Instead of E! News or People magazine's articles about make-ups and break-ups, we have Facebook's mini-feed. I know my friends' "status," what they write on other people's walls, where they go, who they were with, current relationship status, all their favorite - I could go on, but none of that is my business. I know things about people I am merely acquainted with, and in some cases, never talked to in my entire life. With a simple click on "add as a friend" you could know just about everything about someone without ever taking the time to talk to them. It seems as though we have become full-fledged stalkers without even knowing it.

Facebook is an addiction, and I am addicted. The first step is admitting it, right? But I'm taking the next step - not putting out so much personal information. There is always too much of a good thing, and I think Facebook could certainly be categorized as rampant knowledge. Facebook is a useful tool for networking and communicating. However, there is a certain sloth element in it all.

Instead of wasting time creeping on profiles, let's get out in the world and make an effort to meet people - in person. Technology is a blessing, but we can get carried away. These days, we have 7-year-olds with cell phones because parents think it is a safety necessity, but we did just fine without them when I was that age. We also have the iPhone, an amazing piece of technology fully equipped with television, Internet, music and everything else that you can take from your home or office into public. Products such as the iPhone, Blackberry, etc., provide an easy and faster way of doing anything and everything imaginable. We have the choice to go old school, not always taking the easy route. There is something adventurous about putting yourself out there in a way that challenges you and provides life experience. There is no true reward in living your life through the computer screen.

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