Hey, I’m Marli Sussman and I’m a sophomore Communications major from Monroe-Woodbury, NY, home of the Woodbury Common Premium Outlets. Although my Myspace currently contains little more than an overused Jack Kerouac quote and a picture of Bob Saget, there actually is much more to me (and I’m sure all other such “users”) than can be appropriately depicted on a Myspace or Facebook account. Unfortunately, after limiting our personal descriptions to the blank boxes telling viewers everything from the profound “Who I’d Like to Meet” (Lance Bass) and “About Me” (iPhone enthusiast), social-networking websites end up being less telling than they are exceptionally contrived. And while I know that there is much more to a person than what, say, their Facebook “Interests” explain, time and time again I find myself searching for my soul mate by way of matching up our “Favorite Music” and “Quotes.” And while it should come as no surprise that I am not the only person at Cornell University to like Radiohead and Kurt Vonnegut, recognizing these simple similarities is, well, the beginning of the end. I am a Facebook stalker.
Though relatively new to the Internet, the phenomenon of Facebook, and particularly Facebook stalking has already begun to take its toll on college students across the country. Oftentimes, incoming college freshman begin their first day of classes well versed in the faces and interests of their wide variety of Facebook-Friends acquired throughout the summer. While some may be brash enough to eventually utter the words “Aren’t we friends on Facebook?” many a time Facebook-Friends will remain just that (stalking ensues).
Of course, actually making friends with those we “meet” on Facebook bares little to no importance as this remarkable website equips us with all the tools necessary to adequately track the lives of others. From Wall-to-Wall to Mini-Feed, and down tagged-photo trails, the world of Facebook never fails to be educational—we can enhance our knowledge about those we know, and learn more about those we don’t. And beyond our new college friendships and relationships, Facebook has helped our generation to keep in touch with old friends in ways our parents never dreamed of. Through this short overview of the Facebook experience, one would think that it is a flawless website, enhancing not only users’ Internet experience, but life in general. Unfortunately, things are not so simple when it comes to the ways of the Internet.
As with similar “online spaces” such as MySpace and even dating services, Facebook allows users to collect a wide range of information about a person with little to no effort, ultimately leaving our social skills to pay the price. Additionally, Facebook profiles are often contrived depictions of a person, sometimes allowing people to perpetuate false identities. With a continuous, growing reliance on such websites to meet and keep in touch with others, what is this world coming to?
This is a question I clearly cannot answer at the moment. So for now, I will just Facebook stalk the rest of the people on this blog, and try to figure out how I’m making the 45- minute trek to class. See you tomorrow.
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2 comments:
Hey Marli, I would also like to admit to Facebook stalking – and overfriendliness. Upon entering as a freshman I had over 100 friends which led to some awkward confrontations, a couple deletions, and maybe one or two real friends. But in all seriousness, I really appreciate that your discussion of the website contains both praise and caution—for Facebook is such a complex and important presence in our lives; it would be brash to merely look at it from one opinionated side. You also raise interesting points about its future role in our lives.
Do you think that we’re so overly reliant on Facebook, to the point that if it were taken away our social interactions would be more difficult? I doubt that Facebook will ever threaten to replace real social interaction (unless you are too busy stalking to go hang out with friends), but it certainly enables someone to feel closer or more involved with people they hardly know, which is another creepy element of its functionality. But at least it has a much better interface than Myspace.
Marli, I really enjoyed reading your blog. I cant really imagine what college would be like without calling your friends over to your computer on a Saturday morning for them to give their seal of approval about the girl you vaguely remember dancing with the night before at a party. I wasn’t always such an advocate of facebook stalking. I remember having people I didn’t know friend me before orientation began and then running into them in the lobby of RPU. The excruciatingly awkward moment of eye contact made me resent people who attempted to make friends over the web. Until recently, I even refused to friend request people because of the inherent awkwardness of asking permission to make a friendship facebook official (which we all know is the pinnacle of formal).
But my experiences of interacting with people that crossed the line from a dormant stalker and became a facebook predator became increasingly rare. What I think separates facebook from other asynchronous forms of CMC is the unspoken etiquette. Most people know not to friend random individuals unless they have met them in person, not to leave someone hanging on a wall post, and that poking is the very embodiment of sketch.
On the other hand, despite email being in existence decades before facebook gained popularity, I would argue that email has no such distinct culture. Because of the minimal interaction and information available through email, it will never develop such entrenched norms as compared to those that are consistent across universities nationwide in this brand new CMC environment that is myspace/facebook.
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