Four years ago I was accepted into UCLA. After the initial excitement of getting into the university and submitting my intent to attend, the next most exciting thing was getting my e-mail address. Why? Because I could get a Facebook account…. Yes! The hype to join the exclusive college network was thrilling because all of a sudden, me and other students were introduced to our new classmates by the click of a button. Although Facebook has now opened up to almost everyone, including our parents (who would have thought?), it has become a vital part of the social scene at almost all universities, high schools, and has even been introduced to the adult and business worlds.
Recently graduating from UCLA, I look back at my college experience and can’t even imagine how my social life would have played out without Facebook. Each time Mark Zuckerberg decided to change around the format, (in which people got really upset about change until the next one appeared, when they would wish they had the former one back), a piece of my social life at UCLA drastically changed. This includes the introduction of the news feed, status updates, and Facebook chat—all which made it easier not only to keep in touch with people that I normally wouldn’t converse with, but honestly, let’s admit it, to view other people’s pictures and activities and make a judgment of how they live their lives.
What would the last four years be like without Facebook events? Tagging photos? Reading other people’s wall-to-wall conversations? Being in an “official” Facebook relationship? Knowing the life story of the person you see at that party without ever having met them? Yes, to anyone not of the Facebook generation this may seem completely crazy and perhaps even a bit stalkerish, but to our generation it’s very normal, if not vital to our socializing.
However, there are of course many downfalls to Facebook that affect the college student in a negative way. The issue of being Facebook friends with an ex girlfriend or boyfriend can have an enormous impact on trying to get over them. Inadvertently you run into their pictures and are forced to view images of their “oh so fun” single life, see other people writing on their walls, and basically viewing what their life is like without you—of course posted online in the most positive light for them to make it look like their doing great. It’s not natural to be forced to see these things when trying to get over a relationship.
Also, the fact that all of this personal information and possible inappropriate pictures are stored online can be detrimental in the workplace. Not only can employers view a horrendous picture of you doing a keg stand in your bra (no this did not happen to me, just an example!) and decide not to hire you, but they can also catch lies about excuses you have made, such as reading your status that reads you are at the beach when you told them you were on your way to the dentist.
Overall, Facebook has highly affected not only our social scene, but our professional lives as well .To imagine college without the online social network is trying to imagine what life was like before cell phones---oh wait…
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