As an apprehensive and nervous freshman I was eager to get to lecture on the first day.  My politics class would serve as a conduit into the hectic and intellectually stimulating life of a college student. As I began to type the lecturer’s words, I got distracted by the “pinging” sound of cell phone and computer notifications; of course Facebook. Captivated, I look around the room to a lecture hall of approximately 100 students, almost all of whom had Facebook open on their computer screens. How can they be on Facebook right now? I began to examine what I have appropriately deemed the “Facebook obsession”. What started out as a means of communication has transformed social networking into a self-promoting, impersonal, and addictive computer persona. Facebook allows you to create your own reputations and strategically sculpt the way you want the world to see you. The puckered lipped “selfie” or the “ab shot” in the bathroom mirror can help you achieve the coveted 1000^th friend, or the more deep-rooted psychological goal that Facebook can provide, an artificial validation of self-worth.

What worries me the most about the extent of this obsession is the trend towards less meaningful social interaction and more towards social detachment seen through wall posts, “muploading”, relationship status’s, pokes, and app requests. Why wall post? Why not just text your friend or call him/her? Why is it necessary to post a picture of every meaningful, or also in most circumstances, insignificant events in your life? This deviation from pure, unaltered experiences once shared with only those around you is depressing. Is it really living when you think, “Stop wait, I need to take a picture of this moment to post on my Facebook wall”?  Are relationships not legitimate until they are proclaimed on Facebook? The instantaneous gratification that Facebook provides seems to buttress this obsession. Now, with a click of a button, a user can virtually flirt with others with the poking feature. Games are now being played between friends through apps and have replaced the old wiffle ball gang down the street.

Here’s an important question to ask yourself if you are an avid user… Are you living your life to live, or are you living it for facebook?  Sitting down at my class, I came to the realization of society’s addiction. Most of the students in my lecture who had a minute of free time immediately chose to log in to facebook instead of turning off the social network for 50 minutes and joining the outside world.