The world has had its share of grand innovations – Edison and the light bulb, the Wright brothers and the airplane, Salk and the polio vaccine. Today’s day and age brings about yet another grand innovation: Facebook.
Facebook, one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing social networks, has become more than just a way of keeping in contact. What began as a site for networking has become so much more. Facebook is…well, Facebook.
It is a noun: “I just love Facebook!” It is a verb: “Oh my gosh – I don’t know him. Let me Facebook him.” It is even an adjective: “I can’t believe you said that! It’s so Facebook!”
When asked what word first pops into their minds in association with “Facebook,” the following words and phrases came to SMU students’ minds: waste, helpful, time-consuming, addiction, time-machine (hey – I don’t ask questions, here), calendar, life, enjoyment, daily ritual.
Of course, some of these words are shockers – others are not shocking at all.
Facebook has become a daily part of our lives, something to check at least once a day. Maybe more. To be honest, I think a large portion of us would be completely lost without Facebook.
What would we do in those spare moments that bore us to death? What would we do without our status updates about the newest exciting moment in our lives? What would we do in those moments that should be spent reviewing test material but instead are spent as an escape that can only be fulfilled by Facebook?
Facebook has become…oh, excuse me – it’s time for a Facebook break. Be right back.
I apologize – I’m back and fully attentive. For the next ten minutes, at least. In an A.D.D. world, Facebook fits right in. With the expanding technology and the need for convenient contact, it has found its niche. But where do we fit in in the grand scheme of things? Are we to be the masters of this contraption or the slaves of it?
To say I have survived the temptations of Facebook would be a complete and utter lie. I did, for a while, resist the new wave of Facebook mania, but the summer before my senior year of high school, my last bit of strength got up and walked away. It didn’t take long for me to get hooked on the wonder that had become Facebook.
Of course, the sane part of me still resisted the multiple applications requesting me to be someone’s vampire lover and to take a quiz on whether or not I was in love with a fictional character I had never heard of. But the wonder had taken over me in ways that I was not prepared for. Before I knew it, I was spending hours at a time on Facebook without even blinking my eyes.
I know what you’re thinking – what on earth can a girl do on Facebook for hours?! Or maybe you’re not puzzled by the previous question at all. Perhaps you, too, are guilty of spending an obscene amount of time writing on others’ walls, scanning recent photo albums, and sending out far too many bumper stickers for anyone’s own good.
Whatever the case may be, I suddenly had to push aside normal things in my life to make room for my new friend Facebook. Senior year was no breeze; I was youth minister at my mosque, I was the team captain of my mock trial team, I had the lead in my school play, and, to top it off, I was taking four AP courses. So why was I wasting valuable time on Facebook? Simple – everyone else was doing it.
As I soaked in the summer sun and looked forward to an exciting new year in college, I wondered where the blurred line between resourcefulness and waste of time was and how long ago I had crossed it. My time spent on Facebook could have been better spent on studying for my senior classes and college applications – things that were obviously affected by my new time-absorbing pastime.
So what am I to do with this agonizing revelation? I suppose my goal is to get the most out of this useful networking tool. Somehow, I have managed to find that blurred line and have, with much effort, stayed on the end of resourcefulness. And you know what? That line…is not so blurred anymore.
Nureen Gulamali is a freshman advertising and sociology double major. She can be reached for comment at [email protected].
