Collegiate Times

Tim is watching old Power Rangers episodes … Pink Ranger, you're in danger. Kristin is abusing her cat by dressing him in a green sweater … it looks so cute. Mark is treating his girlfriend Tamara to a foot massage. Chelsey is LASDJFP9W124LAA. Selbeep is lighting a joint. Eric is tackling Macro Economics.

Why do most college students know the personal activities of their friends at any given moment in time? Facebook. With status reports ranging from the bland to the blatantly absurd, photo updates, profile additions and the 'notes' that articulate the many inarticulate opinions of generation Y, people connect like never before.

I have both a Myspace and a Facebook account and I'm sick of them. My list of friends, a heterogeneous mix of high school acquaintances, close compadres and old flings, dwindles by the day. Frivolous profile updates and the vain narcissism of tag, de-tag, and rotate stresses me out.

So despite these gaudy displays of attention, have we become a society of voyeurs? Stalkers and terminally awkward socialites who thrive on the seamless access of the Internet? Far from it. Yet the question remains; why do we care? I believe the answer lies in an immutable human need to love and feel loved. How good does it feel to get a picture comment or a post on your wall? These things secure any doubt that our friends care about us, even if they can't be with us.

While this may prove to be a positive aspect of Facebook and Myspace, the time its users spend seeking out these compliments is astronomical. Face it; some of you are addicted (currently in recovery). If I spent half the time I do on Facebook studying, sleeping, working out, having sex or writing music, I'd be a much healthier individual. We sacrifice life experiences for surrogate relations that cut out the substance and effort of communication. Conversation is quickly becoming trivialized, phased out in favor of more convenient enterprises.

Another irksome aspect of these sites is the people who use them to fabricate an image. Myspace patrons are particularly guilty of this infraction. You'll know these people when you stumble upon them. First, their page will take forever to load, as dozens of pictures run through slideshows screening drunken pursuits and shameless hedonism (of which I am not opposed). HTML will glitter their page like epileptic sequins, both annoying and trite. A song will start automatically and interrupt the heady flow of music streaming through your speakers if not immediately stopped. The gay, the goth, the emo and the hypersexual monopolize these extremes in patterns as predictable as their social stigmas.

I'm not against self-expression, nor am I advocating that these individuals stop. I do, however, question the release a personal Myspace allows. Should bigots, violent individuals and misogynists be allowed to freely express their radical ideals in spite of social standards and beliefs? I find the dichotomy between public and private ideology interesting. Maybe in a world where reality is often harsh and political undercurrents inescapable, the Internet provides escapism and fantasy to socially disenfranchised individuals. No matter what, they entertain me in ways the mainstream can't. Who doesn't like rubbernecking subcultures? For some of them, everyday is Halloween. No matter how you slice it, these networking arenas digest more time and effort as they become more and more advanced. Brick by brick, technology, while driving us closer together, only serves to drive us farther apart. I propose an exodus, a journey out of trifling, mindless banter and a grand reclamation of interpersonal communication … just as soon as I add Joy Division to 'my favorite music.'