Last one standing

The Facebook is a giant. I kid you not. When it makes the front cover of two newspapers (albeit student-produced papers) within a week of each other, you know it's huge. Not that there was really any question about Facebook's magnitude, anyway. Talk to any college student; it'll probably come up in your first conversation. Even now, about a year after it initially hit, I hear, "So are you on Facebook?" almost every day. Most of the time the response is yes, but it's said in a tone that makes it clear it was a dumb question. In fact, I sometimes feel like I'm the only one on campus who is not on the Facebook. It's actually kind of funny when I tell people that I'm not; I usually get a blank stare in return. I enjoy that. It amuses me that nonconformity, even in such a small way, confuses people. I don't want to do everything that everyone else does; I want something about me to stand out. Not being on the Facebook, sadly, seems to fulfill that uniqueness quota that I have. I have just about everything else a normal college student does--e-mail, cell phone, blog, Xanga, radio. Granted, I don't have a TV, either, so I'm a little behind the curve there ... but I digress. I have enough things that consume me. I don't need another. I talked to someone about this the other day, and the conversation went something like this (These are not real quotes. I am fully aware I am fictionalizing a conversation here, but it's based on real ones.):

Friend: Man, I waste so much time on Facebook.
Me: What do you even do on there? Send messages, right?
F: Yeah, and you make friends and read people's profiles.
M: How can that take up that much time?
F: It's interesting.
M: It's interesting reading profiles over and over?
F: Well, um ... It just takes a lot of time.

You see my point. Facebook is the biggest time waster ever, and you don't even do anything. Ridiculous. When you add in the security risks (We talked about Facebook stalkers in J2100 once.), and the possibility of employers or teachers reading what you post, finding out what kind of groups you join, it's just not worth it. I am going to stay strong and stay off of Facebook. Wish me luck.

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