2008 Woodie Awards
Facebook has grasp on college lifestyles
Zach Farrell
Issue date: 9/24/07 Section: Opinions
- Page 1 of 1
For the longest time, there has been one sure-fire way to make me cringe: Just say the word "Facebook."
Initially, it got me between the idea of colossal time waste management or the thought of a million 17- and 18-year-old girls having popularity contests on the Internet.
Either way, Facebook has evolved into a rather large culture and diffused itself across the world.
The disgust doesn't stop there. How many times do we, as elite procrastinators, need to scramble into the library and print off important school documents, only to find all the computers occupied with Facebook addicts?
Writing on friends' walls, reading others' and scrolling through countless amounts of photo albums to make sure they caught up on all the superficial drama.
How has this fad overtaken us?
Someone needed to get to the bottom of this, and after extensive research, I'm not proud to say: It's still up in the air. There must be some sort of nicotine effect to it, because even those who never thought they would get sucked in have said beware of the stranglehold.
With some help from a few friends, we took to campus to see how often people use Facebook and why. Most of what I gathered came from my social welfare class Thursday night.
I brought an article called "Women on Facebook think Provocative is Empowering" by Liz Funk of USA Today for everyone to read and discuss.
Liz believes women use risqué, sexy poses and drunken group photos to gain social status.
To a certain extent, my class agreed with Liz, but most said they rarely use it more than to keep up with their friends. Ninety percent of the small sampling - about 50 students - admitted to having "Facebooked."
Approximately half the students believed they were addicted at some point, but got sick of it. Thirty percent stated they never used it obsessively, and the rest of the 90 percentile still are using it on a regular basis.
There were two girls in particular who seemed to take offense to my accusation Facebook has gotten preposterous.
They argued, "How else can you stay in contact with your high school friends?" and "Not everybody fills out their entire profile or puts pictures on there all day!"
This is true, but that just means some kids do.
From the discussion that resulted, I basically came to the consensus that just like everything else in the world, there needs to be some moderation to the craze.
Maybe some restrictions on where it is acceptable and what can be posted would be a good idea.
There are a few people out there who wouldn't put up with my bitter rebellious stance.
A certain friend of mine took it upon herself to set up an account for me, so even though it makes me a little nauseous, I can now say, "Facebook me;" but don't expect me to be responding to your wall anytime soon.
Initially, it got me between the idea of colossal time waste management or the thought of a million 17- and 18-year-old girls having popularity contests on the Internet.
Either way, Facebook has evolved into a rather large culture and diffused itself across the world.
The disgust doesn't stop there. How many times do we, as elite procrastinators, need to scramble into the library and print off important school documents, only to find all the computers occupied with Facebook addicts?
Writing on friends' walls, reading others' and scrolling through countless amounts of photo albums to make sure they caught up on all the superficial drama.
How has this fad overtaken us?
Someone needed to get to the bottom of this, and after extensive research, I'm not proud to say: It's still up in the air. There must be some sort of nicotine effect to it, because even those who never thought they would get sucked in have said beware of the stranglehold.
With some help from a few friends, we took to campus to see how often people use Facebook and why. Most of what I gathered came from my social welfare class Thursday night.
I brought an article called "Women on Facebook think Provocative is Empowering" by Liz Funk of USA Today for everyone to read and discuss.
Liz believes women use risqué, sexy poses and drunken group photos to gain social status.
To a certain extent, my class agreed with Liz, but most said they rarely use it more than to keep up with their friends. Ninety percent of the small sampling - about 50 students - admitted to having "Facebooked."
Approximately half the students believed they were addicted at some point, but got sick of it. Thirty percent stated they never used it obsessively, and the rest of the 90 percentile still are using it on a regular basis.
There were two girls in particular who seemed to take offense to my accusation Facebook has gotten preposterous.
They argued, "How else can you stay in contact with your high school friends?" and "Not everybody fills out their entire profile or puts pictures on there all day!"
This is true, but that just means some kids do.
From the discussion that resulted, I basically came to the consensus that just like everything else in the world, there needs to be some moderation to the craze.
Maybe some restrictions on where it is acceptable and what can be posted would be a good idea.
There are a few people out there who wouldn't put up with my bitter rebellious stance.
A certain friend of mine took it upon herself to set up an account for me, so even though it makes me a little nauseous, I can now say, "Facebook me;" but don't expect me to be responding to your wall anytime soon.