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Facebook: As bad as your parents say?

Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006

With teachers posting homework assignments online and colleges and some high schools requiring laptop computers, it comes as no surprise that students’ social lives have entered into a new, technology-based sphere.

Facebook, an online social networking system, has proven a perennial favorite of high school and college students.

In order to enter the Web site (www.facebook.com), one must first become a Facebook member by being invited by an existing member and then registering under a valid school e-mail address.

Each member’s Facebook page features his or her profile and wall. A profile consists of the user’s photo; account info (name, school); basic info (birthday, hometown, etc.); personal info (political views, favorite music, interests, etc.); and any photos one chooses to post.

Beneath the profile, each member has a wall, a spot where friends can post messages back and forth to each other.

The catch: in order to see anyone’s profile and wall, one must send a friendship request for acceptance.

Facebook offers an enticing short-cut to getting to know someone. By friending a recent acquaintance on Facebook, much can be inferred and understood by their Facebook profile, wall and photos.

Yet, the easy accessibility poses a double-edged sword. Many career-minded students are cancelling their Facebook accounts for fear they will be rejected from a job, internship or college based on something a friend posted on their walls or pictures of them partying.

Nonetheless, the powerful role Facebook plays within the high school and college social arena keeps many hooked. Walls are covered with messages from friends such as, ‘‘Call me,” ‘‘I need to see you!!!” and ‘‘Are you home?”

‘‘You can stay in touch with people you wouldn’t talk to normally or who go to different schools,” said Marian Herbick, an active high school Facebook user. ‘‘Even if you aren’t good enough friends to call someone on the phone, you can always Facebook them.”

(Yes, along with its increasing popularity, ‘‘Facebook” has evolved into a natural verb for its many users.

And for those anxious to keep up on the gossip, Facebook offers an easy means of doing so. Right under a person’s name and school, Facebook lists whether this person is ‘‘Single,” ‘‘In a relationship” or ‘‘It’s complicated.”

The public nature of Facebook walls encourages voyeuristic socialites to click from wall to wall, following conversations, keeping up-to-date on friend feuds and new flirtations.

For others, this kind of obsession keeps them away from Facebook.

Chris Hague, a senior at The Bullis School in Potomac, has resisted joining Facebook.

‘‘I’m afraid that, if I join, it will be a compulsive time-consumer,” he said. ‘‘I won’t have enough time to do my homework. It’s just time I’d rather spend reading, running, swimming or biking.”

Andrew Delinsky, Bullis’ dean of students, has faced the issue of taking a stance on Facebook numerous times as the network has increased in popularity among his students.

Overall, he maintains: ‘‘I can see how Facebook would be great and a lot of fun, but I think there needs to be some regulations so that people don’t expose too much of themselves or let [Facebook] get in the way of their schoolwork. But I think that you can’t ignore something that’s so clearly here to stay.”