Not an Advertisement. Maybe an Endorsement.

Recently I've friended a handful of adults on Facebook ("adults" meaning people who are around my parents' age.) It seems it's finally acceptable for normal adults to join without feeling completely geeky. Congrats, Facebook people.

I know there are Facebook haters out there and certainly don't condone people who spend their entire existence on the site. But I do have to say that Facebook has proven its worth, at least to me. I'm probably the most terrible person in the world at keeping in touch. Email tag never lasts very long with me and I try to avoid talking on my cell phone if I can get away with it. However, for some reason, ever since I joined Facebook (I think it was around 2004) I've been a lot better at keeping track of people and letting people keep track of me. I think it's because of the lack of commitment it requires. You can jot a five-word message on someone's wall without having to commit to an entire conversation, and whether that person replies back to you or you ever write on their wall again doesn't matter. Even without regularly communicating to anyone you can "keep in touch" with people because you can see their recent pictures and statuses. Some may argue that this marks the deterioration of meaningful human relationships. But really, the way I see it, it's better than nothing, which I think is the inevitable alternative.

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.