As my father says to me with a wink, “Get down to the city. Take a nice girl out for dinner, maybe some ice-skating, and who knows? Maybe some ‘extracurricular’ activities,” I stare at him with a smug look on my face. HAH! His nostalgic thoughts of the ‘good old days’ are far from applicable today: guys asking girls on dates, sweeping them off of their feet, and talking for hours over the phone is now a distant afterthought. Actual human interaction has been depleted beyond imagination. The technological revolution has seen to that.
Teens have traded face-to-face interaction with that “special someone” for constant texting and a simple wall post on facebook. Awkward moments that define communication have been eliminated. Instead of talking directly, one can simply “poke” a friend, write on walls, or “like” photos to show interest. Don’t get me wrong, Facebook has allowed people to network and maintain connections to old friends, but its reach has extended too far.
Facebook has allowed students to reach new audiences. Events and groups broadcast interesting opportunities to students looking for something to do (their boredom is obvious, seeing as they have the time to look through events that grace their news feed). When used in moderation, Facebook is a healthy avenue of communication. But when used in excess, the site can run one’s life.
Making new friends has become a breeze. Just a few clicks of the mouse and mere acquaintances become your buddies. Without putting in baseline effort, you can learn some information about others: hobbies, phone numbers, passions, pitfalls, and so much more. This is the scary part: the effort that it previously took to get to know someone is no longer needed. The leap of faith required to journey out into the unknown, to be vulnerable, and to make lasting friends is gone. It is a thing of the past. Facebook friendship is foolproof until that inevitable moment comes, when you interact in person with your “friends” and realize that you have no idea what you are doing. The security of the wall post is no longer present.
Reaching tens of millions of people daily, Facebook has become an addiction for many. As I sit in lecture hall, I stare down the rows, towards students’ computers. A girl to the left disregards the professor, searching through her news feed, following links from page to page. Another student learns about his friend’s crazy weekend through the drunken pictures that were just posted. Suddenly, I glance back to my own screen and what do I see? The evil empire: two new posts and a friend request awaiting my reply. Intriguing, very intriguing.
How do I know the extent to which Facebook has affected us all? Funny, seeing that the site is open on my desktop as I write this article. It is seemingly always open, not always at the forefront, but like hunger, it is always there. We need to push past the wall posts, inbox messages, honesty boxes, and fan pages to realize what Facebook has become: an obsession. Like I said before, it has its benefits. But, a major negative outweighs these positives: the site is depleting human interaction, leaving us crippled in a world that rewards real-life social prowess.
