Collegiate Times

It seems harmless now, but think about what it will be like in 20 years. Will we be logging onto Facebook to see whether that guy we couldn't stand from high school is making more money than us? Will it be the latest gossip if your marriage fails? How much time will we waste keeping up with all of it?

Knowing such details may not be the reason we keep our accounts, but the comparisons we'll make are unavoidable.

I'm afraid Facebook of the future will take our focus off of things that matter -- our families, our jobs, our own accomplishments. I'm afraid it will take us from innocently following the actions of our friends to constantly and unnecessarily worrying if we measure up to others. Of course we should make the effort to keep in touch with those that matter, but we shouldn't fret over those who don't.  

The reason this issue is worth pondering is because we already face pressures to have certain experiences at specific points in our lives. We should all graduate college in four or five years. We should all have a job or graduate school lined up. We should all get married and have kids before we're 35.

Of course that's not always how it works, and that's not always what people want. But for those who want those things and haven't found them, will constantly evaluating themselves against others be helpful? Will it make dealing with these pressures easier? Certainly not.

For example, if I'm 38 and unmarried, I can't honestly say I'd get pure joy out of seeing a constant flow of pictures from my college acquaintances tying the knot. As much as I'd want to be happy, I'd be even happier without the overwhelming feeling that everyone else has what I've always wished for.

To be fair, I know that we don't ever have to look at anyone's Facebook besides our own. We don't even need to have one at all. And we may never have to.

But it's something worth thinking about if you do have one and don't see yourself deleting it. Because if we keep our Facebooks after we graduate college, we'll inevitably be bringing many aspects of college with us. And I think we should make a conscious effort to only bring as much as we're willing to carry.

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