2008 Woodie Awards
Too much extra entertainment in Facebook
Esme Mazzeo
Issue date: 2/7/08 Section: Op/Ed
If you're one of my three hundred twenty-three Muhlenberg "friends" on Facebook, you know that I can't exactly claim extreme hatred toward all Facebook applications. In fact, I have sixteen more applications than I had when MySpace was still the cooler of the two sites. However, that still doesn't stop the annoyance I feel upon receiving the hundredth "Zombies" application request of the week, or the immense (probably strange) amount of satisfaction I feel upon clicking the "reject" button for the hundredth time.
I like to think that, with a few exceptions, most of the applications on my profile are entertaining ways for my "friends" to learn more about me. I mean, I think it's pretty cool that I can let everyone know what book I'm reading at the moment, or recommend my favorite movies. But is it really necessary to let everyone know that the celebrity I most resemble is Will Smith? Or that I'm more like Posh Spice than any of the other Spice Girls? Not really.
But even those applications have some element of understandable entertainment to them. They are not unlike any of the quizzes that I've been known to take in CosmoGirl! or some such magazine. However, last night, while attempting to entertain myself for a little bit before doing my homework, I received an invitation that crossed a line for me, entitled, "When will you get married?" What disturbed me even more than the actual application though was that I clicked on it. I took the quiz. I'm not dumb, I knew it was not actually telling me anything; it wasn't even entertaining until I came to the results (four years and three months, in case you were wondering) and, before then, I was forced to poison twenty peoples' homepages with a request. I got a little chuckle out of it, and then decided that I'd rather be doing homework than letting a computer program plan out my future for me. Amazingly, I'm proud to say I was more entertained by "The Method" than I have been by any application anyone could think up.
I don't really know if there is a moral to my story. I just felt compelled to share my experience. Facebook does have its positive aspects. It would not be so easy to keep in touch with my friends outside of Muhlenberg if it didn't exist. However, I believe the whole application thing crossed the line somewhere between the "virtual bookshelf" and the "virtual aquarium". I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I value my time and have better, more important things to do with it than play around in a virtual haunted house. So, from now on, I'm going to try and resist clicking "accept" in favor of becoming a more productive member of society; maybe you'd like to try it as well. However, if not, I kindly ask you to refrain from sending me further invitations. Don't worry, I won't be offended. I respectfully reject any future requests.
I like to think that, with a few exceptions, most of the applications on my profile are entertaining ways for my "friends" to learn more about me. I mean, I think it's pretty cool that I can let everyone know what book I'm reading at the moment, or recommend my favorite movies. But is it really necessary to let everyone know that the celebrity I most resemble is Will Smith? Or that I'm more like Posh Spice than any of the other Spice Girls? Not really.
But even those applications have some element of understandable entertainment to them. They are not unlike any of the quizzes that I've been known to take in CosmoGirl! or some such magazine. However, last night, while attempting to entertain myself for a little bit before doing my homework, I received an invitation that crossed a line for me, entitled, "When will you get married?" What disturbed me even more than the actual application though was that I clicked on it. I took the quiz. I'm not dumb, I knew it was not actually telling me anything; it wasn't even entertaining until I came to the results (four years and three months, in case you were wondering) and, before then, I was forced to poison twenty peoples' homepages with a request. I got a little chuckle out of it, and then decided that I'd rather be doing homework than letting a computer program plan out my future for me. Amazingly, I'm proud to say I was more entertained by "The Method" than I have been by any application anyone could think up.
I don't really know if there is a moral to my story. I just felt compelled to share my experience. Facebook does have its positive aspects. It would not be so easy to keep in touch with my friends outside of Muhlenberg if it didn't exist. However, I believe the whole application thing crossed the line somewhere between the "virtual bookshelf" and the "virtual aquarium". I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I value my time and have better, more important things to do with it than play around in a virtual haunted house. So, from now on, I'm going to try and resist clicking "accept" in favor of becoming a more productive member of society; maybe you'd like to try it as well. However, if not, I kindly ask you to refrain from sending me further invitations. Don't worry, I won't be offended. I respectfully reject any future requests.