With three pages left to write of my three-page paper and only a few short hours until class time, I think, “I can do this,” as I sit staring at the blinking curser amid the white abyss of the Microsoft Word page.
Impulsively, I drag the arrow down the screen and pull up an Internet browser. I highlight the address, and begin typing the ominous word — Facebook. My spine is prickling as I wait for the page to load. Typing in my password suddenly I’m bombarded with pictures and gossip about friends — I’m completely engrossed.
“What has she been up to at school,” I ponder as I click on an old friend’s profile. “Just a few more minutes — then I’ll get back to work,” I assure myself. Mesmerized by each colorful page, I continue to look, oblivious to the ticking clock.
Without realization, an entire hour passes, and my paper remains — a blank slate. This scenario is frighteningly too familiar to most students. Whether it is Facebook, Myspace or AOL Instant Messenger, students today have become addicted to online social networking.
This addiction goes beyond the privacy of one’s own dorm room. Students roll out of bed, laptop in tote, only to sit in class perusing Facebook profiles, paying no heed to the professor or his lecture. Technological advancement, intended to benefit our generation — the generation seeking higher education to prepare for an increasingly competitive job market — has actually become a hindrance to such.
To make matters worse, amelioration of this epidemic proves virtually impossible when the huge sums of money backing these sites are taken into account.
Microsoft recently paid $240 million for a mere 1.6 percent of Facebook, and placed a shocking $15 billion overall value on the social networking company. No matter the amount of controversy the site causes among critics who acknowledge its counterproductive effects on students’ work habits and lack of a purpose whatsoever, there is too much money invested in the site for it to be shut down.
It’s tragic when the best interests of students are overlooked by advertisers and other large companies simply to increase revenue — especially when those students are the futures of their precious companies.
Unfortunately, it’s simply the way the economy works. So, social networking sites such as Facebook or Myspace are far from being shut down, now more than ever, we have an opportunity and an obligation to our generation to take matters into our own hands and convey a message.
The idea of computer addiction as an official psychological disease has been tossed around by psychologists, many of whom contend the so-called addiction is nothing more than an inability to control one’s impulses. So for those of you, who are wavering between studying for classes and poring over countless Facebook or Myspace profiles — especially with final exams looming around the corner, avoid temptation entirely and deactivate your account.
Social networking sites are the breeding grounds for online predators and breach the fundamental wall of separation between private and public life. A distinguished French writer, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, once said, “The machine does not isolate man from the great problems of nature but plunges him more deeply into them.”
Do you procrastinate with Facebook or Myspace? Tell us if you do at viewpoint@technicianonline.com.
