Sunday, January 01, 2006

You Have a Friend Request Awaiting Confirmation

All of you college-goers out there have heard of something called Facebook by now. For a while, it was a topic of disinterest to me and I never thought twice about it. However, a few weeks ago, with the help of some good friends, all of that changed. I found myself helplessly taking the plunge into the world of Facebook.

So I guess some smart kids at Harvard started this little network to keep in touch with old friends, then it spread to Berkeley and Stanford, and now even mediocre students like me can be a part of it. Basically, along with being a convenient way to see pictures of your drunk high school comrades, it is an ingenious excuse for thousands of college students to waste... oops I mean spend even more of their invaluable time. What features are so irresistable to all of these scholars, you ask? The Checking Addiction. The same concept applies with cell phones. Why are people always looking at their cell phones? Do that many people really call them? Most likely the answer is no, and this is proof that evolution has certainly taken another leap in this day and age: young people of today now have a slight modification in their DNA structure that necessitates knowing at every moment whether anything with a pulse is trying to contact them, because heaven forbid if they miss the important message that Strongbad has posted a new email. Thus the features of Facebook are a perfect place to channel this energy. Students need to check if anyone has written on their "wall". They need to check if anyone has updated their profile. They need to see if they have been "tagged" in anyone's photo album. And most importantly, they need to know if anyone wants to be their friend. Yes, in this age of technology, we need a computer to keep track of who we are friends with for us. As with cell phones, most of the time when students sign on to check their Facebook status, there are no changes. Yup, it's still exactly the same as the last time they checked it (an hour ago.) But hey, at least it's something to do.

If you are one of the smart kids who started Facebook, please do not think this is an attack on your idea. Everything I've written is really meant to praise. And remember, I'm only a mediocre college student compared to you. It took me an hour to figure out enough HTML to turn my blog background red. Now excuse me... I have to see if anyone has written on my wall.

5 comments:

gillian said...

SAYAKA! Great blog, great blog name! It's only fitting that I be your first comment since you were mine...long live the blogosphere! I haven't joined facebook yet, but maybe one of these days...hope that everything is going great in Ohio; we sure do miss you here!

Anonymous said...

It was started at Harvard:
http://thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=357543

Sayaka said...

Thanks... I knew I was getting something wrong.

Anonymous said...

I want not concur on it. I assume polite post. Expressly the appellation attracted me to read the sound story.

Anonymous said...

Nice post and this enter helped me alot in my college assignement. Thank you as your information.