Real life allegedly better than Facebook

Life sucks without the Internet. I need constant information updates 24 hours a day or else I'd go crazy. If I don't tweet every few minutes it gives me the jitters. Besides, announcing to the world that I'm busy clipping my toenails is a surprising rush.


With the power of the Internet at our fingertips, who needs the outside world anymore? It's definitely unhealthy to spend 16 hours at your desk stalking people on Facebook, but one or two hours a day couldn't hurt, right? How much is too much?

Wi-Fi is basically oxygen. My laptop, phone and Playstation are connected to this wondrous network of streaming, downloading and "World of Warcraft"-ing. At least half of my day—any college student's day—is spent sucking up data.

Check your Facebook status right now.

I ask myself why my virtual life is more interesting than my real life. This is admittedly pathetic, but it's true. Social networking is supposed to support my social life, not dominate it.

Conversations have been replaced by chat programs, and the drama of my love life has been compounded into one convenient ‘relationship status.' My pictures might as well be invitations to stalk me.


I feel required to check my status every five minutes. When I open my laptop I look forward to a little red thought bubble in the bottom right corner of my browser window. Either way, I spend a good 15 minutes looking up and down my news feed to check on people I might actually care about.


The time wasted by social networking sites is ridiculous. If you're aware of the "FarmVille" phenomenon, then you realize how pointless it is to grow virtual crops in real time. Owning a virtual farm is fun and all, but after a while it becomes more work than play.

If you worry about watering your non-existent plants and feeding your non-existent animals in the middle of the day, you should think about quitting the game. Addiction can creep into the virtual world too.


Just look at anybody who lost their social life to "World of Warcraft," and they can tell you that at some point, the game stopped being fun and became a second job. It is a second job you pay time and money to do.


Do you feel like checking your Facebook yet?

Maybe the average person isn't spending hours at a time practicing their mouse-clicking skills, but the frequency at which most of us check our status updates and even e-mail is staggering. Worst of all, it's almost necessary.


My life wouldn't function without e-mail now. Ten years ago I was satisfied with waiting five minutes to download a single picture. Nowadays I'll clock in at least two and a half clicks per second, and that's on a slow day.


The pace of daily life is dictated by e-mails, text messages and wall posts. Social networking is first and foremost a way to keep in contact with people. It's amazing when you can reconnect with an old friend through Myspace or maintain a long-distance relationship with Twitter.


No one doubts those advantages. It's fun and probably a boon to your social life. But abusing this dark power to the point that it hurts is less ideal.

The Internet can be a distraction on its own, but you throw in an obsession with social networking and suddenly your schoolwork and job seem less important. More time spent online means fewer friends and less money.


Barring any guild friends you make or the amount of gold you can farm in 24 hours, this is true. If you could live, work and play all at once from the comfort of your desk, would you?
How long before society is nothing more than a population of computer nerds staring into dimly lit screens all day? This reeks of devolution.


It isn't just Seattle University either. This is just the trend society is taking.


In the old days (three years ago) Myspace was king. Remember Tom? Before that there was LiveJournal and before that there was Xanga. Facebook rules for now. How long before the next genius grad student comes up with something better and even more addicting?

Check your Facebook now. It's been a few minutes; you might have an important picture comment to read.