"Oh wait a minute, I'm just going to check my Facebook!"

In response to Shannon Ciuk's question," How drastically do you think our lives would change if Facebook was shut down? How 'lost' would we be without it?"...

     I will admit it, I am addicted to Facebook. I check it multiple times during the day, and when I am bored I can spend hours on it talking to friends, looking at pictures, and playing games. I even checked my Facebook while writing this blog post, to see if one of my friends had responded to a message I sent them. Facebook obviously does have some positive aspects though, for otherwise it would not be so popular. I use Facebook mostly to stayed in touch with my friends from high school, and it is wonderful that one is able to connect with so many that they would not have been able to otherwise. However, this addiction to technology, and especially to Facebook, is overall more negative than positive. For instance, I do not remember the last time that I was with a group of people my own age who did not text or check their Facebook while I was spending time with them. It does become rather disappointing, for it seems that they care much more about talking to others who are not there, than talking to those right in front of them. Then of course, there is the security issues with Facebook. Though it is rare, there have been instances of sex offenders "stalking their prey" on the site. Many individuals are ignorant of their privacy settings, and they often make a great deal of information public that they did not intend to.
      I definitely feel our lives would undergo a positive change if Facebook was shut down. Last summer I went on a vacation with my family to a cabin on a lake in New Hampshire. The cabin had a wireless Internet connection, but at the time I did not have a laptop. I could not access the Internet on the cell phone I had at the time, so I spent a week and a half without checking the Internet or Facebook. Honestly, it was refreshing, and though I did have a slight urge to check Facebook a few times during the trip, I soon forgot about it with everything that was going on around me. However, if Facebook was shut down, there might be a chance that some other social networking site would take its place. After all, MySpace was extremely successful until Facebook gained more popularity.
     Without the site, some extremely addicted people might feel "lost" at first, but as the case with myself, eventually people would feel better for not spending so much time on the site. Today my R.A. made a very good point as my roommate's parents picked her up. He said that unfortunately with technology, we might stay in touch with people too much. Many of my friends here call, email, and talk to their parents on Facebook frequently. While they do miss their parents still, when they do reunite, it will not feel as special as it would have if they had not made contact with their parents as frequently. So, while technology does keep us connected, it can drive us apart and make us take our relationships with those around us for granted. Sometimes we need a break from the people in our lives, and with the constant use of Facebook, it is extremely hard to truly get away from anyone. Have you ever spent a great length of time not using Facebook? During this time were you anxious to check the site, or were you content with your present activities?