By Victoria Comella
It’s all the rage. If you’re reading this column and have no idea what the Facebook is, then I suggest you dig yourself out of the hole you’ve been living in for the past few months and turn on the light.
The Facebook (www.thefacebook.com) is the newest outlet for college students across the country to communicate with one another beyond the now old school medium of instant messenger and e-mail. We’ve been spiraling out of control for a long time now, falling further and further away from talking on the phone and, God forbid, talking face to face (gasp!).
With profiles outlining interests, favorite books and movies, hometowns and political leanings, the point of even going out on a date anymore is moot. All of the information you might hope to gather while sipping coffee or grabbing dinner is taken care of in a few minutes via the computer screen.
Of course let’s not forget the uploaded picture that tries its best to depict how you would look if someone actually did see you in person. After all, a good picture could mean the difference between a poke and a full-out message, the difference between getting an “oh they’re hot,” or “they’re OK,” before moving on to the next profile. (I personally love cropped group pictures with someone else’s arm in the shot.)
Checking the Facebook has become routine for many students, incorporating itself into their daily lives like the mundane chores of breathing and eating. A new friend confirmation, exciting; a message, I feel loved; a poke, glorious.
Let’s not forget the kids who are friends with roughly 500 people, of whom they only really know about five. These people, who are part of “the Facebook race,” as I like to call it, are a little out of control. It makes me worry about how they’re spending (wasting) their free time. Time that could be put to better use doing things like studying, reading, watching TV or even actually going out with friends … real ones.
As a guilty Facebook member myself, I can’t help but find it a little unnerving when I receive messages from people who went to my high school that I didn’t even know went to my high school, yet apparently know me.
Also equally confusing is the poke. The whole concept of the poke, in general, escapes me. I’m in awe every time I get a message from someone who has been browsing the ‘book and decided I was interesting enough to poke. What does that even mean, and is this action in any way supposed to further some form of relationship?
With all the new and impersonal ways we’ve been finding to get around actually having the guts to speak to someone, I can’t help but wonder how it is relationships are working at all.
In this digital age of dating Web sites and online outlets like the Facebook, what does this mean for our romantic futures? The art of letter writing is long since dead and gone; are dates the next thing to go? There’s something to be said about going out with someone on a date, sitting across from them at a table and measuring the chemistry that can only be created while being physically present with another person. As enticing as some of these profiles can be, they’re not an acceptable way to find out anything substantial about a person, nor are they in any way able to measure your compatibility.
Surfing the Facebook has replaced going out and meeting people. Poking, an amazing yet juvenile tactic, has replaced asking for someone’s number. The mere click of a button has taken away the scary, but exhilarating feeling that comes with taking a chance when meeting someone new. We’ve become afraid of our fellow man, unable to function on a personal plane. It’s a scary thing to realize that you can hold a conversation more easily during online messaging rather than in person and that you have more courage to poke someone than to say hello to them at a bar.
So for the sake of dating and hopeless romantics everywhere who still believe that talking face to face is the best way to find love and friendship, I am hopeful that the novelty of all that is Facebook will wear off — the sooner the better.
– Victoria Comella is a senior English major.