Monday, September 17, 2007
The Facebook Dot Com
I hate The Facebook Dot Com.
I think it is the creepiest thing…ever. I went through a phase where I spent most of my idle time absentmindedly clicking through people’s pictures, looking at whoever had happened to update their profile, scrolling through names, posting on walls. It’s addicting.
I knew all of our lives were going downhill when “will you tag that?” and “oh my god please don’t tag me in that” became common phrases. It’s one thing to sit at your computer and facebook (please note its verb form) for a couple minutes (make it a couple hours if you have work you’re supposed to be doing). But making references to facebook when you’re out to dinner or at a bar takes it to a whole new level.
Last year I broke up with my boyfriend the night before they invented the whole “news feed" thing and woke up the next morning to “[Ex-boyfriend] and You has ended their relationship” next to an icon of a broken heart. First of all, that sentence is not grammatically correct. Second of all, I actually already knew that, but thank you for the reminder, facebook.com.
What is this about employers using facebook as a tool in the hiring process? Are they going to hire my friend Julia on the basis that “Gone With the Wind” is listed under her favorite movies section? Because I can tell you right now that her favorite movie is “What a Girl Wants” starring Amanda Bynes.
A couple weeks ago I was checking my email and clicking around facebook when a little voice inside me said, “please get a life.” So I deactivated. Suddenly I felt anonymous, disconnected…and relieved. It was like unplugging myself. I haven't looked back.
I guess I can understand that people use facebook to keep in touch with friends, but I basically just used it to procrastinate; I talk to my good friends from home on the phone and I see my school friends every day. I would just go on facebook because it was there and I was bored, and it just didn’t feel natural to know things about people that I’ve never really had a conversation with. I don’t really care what Suzie from high school algebra did on her spring break or what Johnny from 7th grade summer camp’s favorite books are, and I’m pretty sure they don’t care about me either.
I think right now there is kind of a sense of ‘get out while you still can.’ Is it going to become normal for our generation to post pictures of our weddings on facebook? Of our kids? I’m personally uncomfortable with that, and I’m afraid if I get too used to being connected in that way now, it will be too late to disconnect later.
Maybe the whole online networking thing is just a phase and some people will eventually lose interest and go back to more traditional forms of communication. Probably not. But I think for some reason we all forgot that we have a choice, and that there is an off button. (Okay not always. I mean, I know I couldn’t just decide not to check my email anymore; that’s how professors communicate with students and I would miss important messages. If I turned my cell phone off for too long, my parents would probably freak out and assume I was dead.) But yes, there are certain things we can definitely choose to live without. So will we?
Anyway, life without facebook is the best thing ever. Not only am I about a jillion times more productive, I don’t have to know what anyone is doing unless I actually ASK them (revolutionary). Without a picture of my head popping up under “recently updated friends” every so often, people I haven’t seen in a while can completely forget I exist, which is how it’s supposed to work – right? I feel kind of superior, like I’m invisible or something. I read more, I clean more, I talk to my roommate more (instead of kind of grunting at her). I’m never going back.
That might be a lie. But I highly suggest giving the "off" button a try. ¶ posted by AlexM2121 at 12:13 AM •
I think it is the creepiest thing…ever. I went through a phase where I spent most of my idle time absentmindedly clicking through people’s pictures, looking at whoever had happened to update their profile, scrolling through names, posting on walls. It’s addicting.
I knew all of our lives were going downhill when “will you tag that?” and “oh my god please don’t tag me in that” became common phrases. It’s one thing to sit at your computer and facebook (please note its verb form) for a couple minutes (make it a couple hours if you have work you’re supposed to be doing). But making references to facebook when you’re out to dinner or at a bar takes it to a whole new level.
Last year I broke up with my boyfriend the night before they invented the whole “news feed" thing and woke up the next morning to “[Ex-boyfriend] and You has ended their relationship” next to an icon of a broken heart. First of all, that sentence is not grammatically correct. Second of all, I actually already knew that, but thank you for the reminder, facebook.com.
What is this about employers using facebook as a tool in the hiring process? Are they going to hire my friend Julia on the basis that “Gone With the Wind” is listed under her favorite movies section? Because I can tell you right now that her favorite movie is “What a Girl Wants” starring Amanda Bynes.
A couple weeks ago I was checking my email and clicking around facebook when a little voice inside me said, “please get a life.” So I deactivated. Suddenly I felt anonymous, disconnected…and relieved. It was like unplugging myself. I haven't looked back.
I guess I can understand that people use facebook to keep in touch with friends, but I basically just used it to procrastinate; I talk to my good friends from home on the phone and I see my school friends every day. I would just go on facebook because it was there and I was bored, and it just didn’t feel natural to know things about people that I’ve never really had a conversation with. I don’t really care what Suzie from high school algebra did on her spring break or what Johnny from 7th grade summer camp’s favorite books are, and I’m pretty sure they don’t care about me either.
I think right now there is kind of a sense of ‘get out while you still can.’ Is it going to become normal for our generation to post pictures of our weddings on facebook? Of our kids? I’m personally uncomfortable with that, and I’m afraid if I get too used to being connected in that way now, it will be too late to disconnect later.
Maybe the whole online networking thing is just a phase and some people will eventually lose interest and go back to more traditional forms of communication. Probably not. But I think for some reason we all forgot that we have a choice, and that there is an off button. (Okay not always. I mean, I know I couldn’t just decide not to check my email anymore; that’s how professors communicate with students and I would miss important messages. If I turned my cell phone off for too long, my parents would probably freak out and assume I was dead.) But yes, there are certain things we can definitely choose to live without. So will we?
Anyway, life without facebook is the best thing ever. Not only am I about a jillion times more productive, I don’t have to know what anyone is doing unless I actually ASK them (revolutionary). Without a picture of my head popping up under “recently updated friends” every so often, people I haven’t seen in a while can completely forget I exist, which is how it’s supposed to work – right? I feel kind of superior, like I’m invisible or something. I read more, I clean more, I talk to my roommate more (instead of kind of grunting at her). I’m never going back.
That might be a lie. But I highly suggest giving the "off" button a try. ¶ posted by AlexM2121 at 12:13 AM •