Facebook. One word that instantly triggers a flood of emotions: friendships, groups, creepers, people with too much time, embarrassing relatives, nonsensical and careless statuses, etc. With a world full of differences, this little social network is something we can all relate to. The technological beast that is Facebook is dominating the Internet. If something cool happens outside your window at 3 a.m. it ends up on a status or wall post at 3:01 a.m. People can’t get enough of this craziness. You can’t avoid it either, it’s impossible. Like some Nordic giant warrior with a spear in one hand and wireless router in the other, it demands that you join its big, dysfunctional, mixed salad of a family. What happens? You join millions of people around the world in this big social web.
I remember hearing about Facebook during my freshman year of college and was visited by the Nordic giant so I had to get in on it. It was pretty simple at first; upload a picture and write some goofy crap about yourself. It was like your own personal baseball card, but not as many people wanted it. Now it was time to find some people you knew, people who they knew, and then people who they knew. It becomes a big, insane web of friends and acquaintances. Then that first friend request comes and you feel like a six year old on Christmas morning. “Who could it be, who could it be?! Wait a second… who is that?...OH! I remember them; they were in my 10th grade biology lab.” It’s almost like we expected it to be Bill Gates ,Tom Cruise or Whoopi Goldberg. Don’t be naïve.
It’s like turning 16 or 21, the excitement makes you check your Facebook account every 8.5 seconds to make sure someone didn’t post something awesome on your wall. But, much like turning 16 or 21, the excitement wares off and you continue a normal life… or so you think! What happens next? That damn Facebook starts churning out applications to keep you on their site 24/7! They turn into some 9th grade, attention stealing whore. Yes, Facebook is a whore. The McDonalds of the cyber world. I mean come on; people are on and off day and night. Games such as Farmville and Mafia Wars are plugged into requests that seemingly appear out of nowhere. They tried to pull the same stunt by allowing folks to create groups that reflected some part of their personality. Good call because they’re still going strong but apps are the game breaker. I could go into detail but there are way too many of them and they have a monopoly on the internet gaming world so they don’t deserve the satisfaction of being mentioned.
Let’s take it a step further! We’ll let people express their thoughts about other people’s statuses, pictures or wall posts by allowing them to comment or by placing obnoxious thumbs up signs below it. If that weren’t enough, they throw some yellow-faced emoticons at us so we can really get the point across. Yeehaaa, boo hoo, or wink wink; whatever floats your boat. Don’t get me wrong people, I’m just as much a part of this internet infatuation as everyone else is… alright, I might not be club leader but I’m the goofy kid in the back picking his nose and aimlessly following along which is what I think describes most people. We’re all passengers on the S.S. Facebook.
Enter Lamebook. For those who haven’t heard of this site, PLEASE check it out. It’s a site devoted to the most generally awkward Facebook B.S. I take a few minutes and browse this page so I can get a cheap laugh from the most ridiculous crap that the fine users of Facebook can conceive. There are a few things that I truly find puzzling but for the most part it is just people living their life the way they were taught or what they have experienced and from the bottom of my heart I honestly hope some of them don’t procreate. This isn’t insensitivity, rather a logical way of looking at people who shouldn’t be allowed to attempt to raise a child. But back to the Lamebook site as a whole, give it a shot. You might find yourselves paying closer attention to your own FB page just so you can apply some quick wit or to notice how goofy people are.
This isn’t a criticism or degradation of Facebook, just a subjective view. It’s my judgment on everyday human behavior. Right or wrong doesn’t play a factor here, just opinions. And if you do take it to heart, you should probably spend some time away from the internet and reevaluate life decisions. I use Facebook almost every day so I can’t really give it too much grief but I do notice things here and there and decide to write about them. Peel away all the excess crap that has been admitted to the forum of Facebook and you find a simple social network where people all around the world can connect and learn about one another. That isn’t so bad in my opinion. Until next time, God bless.
