Why Are We So Obsessed?

I open up Safari to check my UNH email, yet find my fingers typing "facebook.com" instead. It's become second nature to immediately type that, and it's sad, really.

I'm bad about it, but not as bad as some people I know. I have friends who have smart phones, which means they're connected to Facebook 24 hours, seven days a week. During conversation, they'll be scrolling through their newsfeeds on their phone. Not only is it rude, but it's pathetic.

Why are we so obsessed with knowing what everyone is doing? Who cares what pictures others are posting and what they're writing on each other's walls?

It really says something about my generation and how socializing as we know it has changed. We find the need to be socially connected at all hours of the day. People text each other just for the sake of texting and update their statuses on Facebook an annoyingly amount of times. (Because who really cares what time you're working, and how long you're at the gym, and what you're doing after.)

It's ironic, the way social networking has changed social interaction. Through all of the ways people can be more "social", it makes them less so. People have the hardest time with face-to-face interaction and can't make it through a whole conversation without checking their phones. At school, the change is so obvious all over campus. Students can't even walk to class by themselves. People feel so uncomfortable they have to call someone, text, or put their head phones in to block out those around them. People are used to being connected, they can't enjoy a moment of walking through campus, soaking up the beautiful weather, or even socializing with the hundreds of students walking around them. Even in class, looking down at the rows in front of me, Facebook appears on numerous lap top screens and cell phones are at the finger tips of students ignoring the lecture being taught.

Not only does this connection hurt us socially and academically, it can cause some mental and emotional harm as well. There is so much pressure from the media for women to be stick-thin, but this also carries through to Facebook. I see it everyday. Friends of mine dread logging on because they're worried about pictures they might be tagged in. They don't worry about the pictures being silly or embarrassing, but that they will look too chunky, or not pretty enough.

When connected to others at this level, it's easy to compare yourself to others. When seeing others doing fabulous things, having loads of fun, and basically living exciting, happy lives, your life might appear drab. Although Facebook is there for connections, it can really cause isolation.

The lesson to be learned is to engage in social networking in controlled and limited amounts, and to remember that a picture doesn't tell much about what peoples' lives are truly like.

Despite all of these negatives, people can't seem to shake the addiction. As bad as I may want to, I can't seem to either.

I've already checked my Facebook twice this morning... and I just started Tweeting.

Uh oh.