It’s a fact: College students love Facebook. It started out as a tool for communicating with friends, but it has become much more than that. It’s an address book, a calendar, a mailbox, a massive photo album. There are instant update e-mails from Facebook every day to tell us who’s having this weekend’s parties, who sent us a message or who posted a goofy photo. Facebook has even changed the way we talk, making the word “friend” into a verb. The site has virtually (no pun intended) infiltrated nearly every aspect of our lives and has become an integral part of our fast-paced, Web-based culture.
But for some Wash. U. students, Facebook has been more of a nuisance than a tool-or it may get in the way of school and career goals. These students have now done what few would even consider as an option: They have deactivated their Facebook accounts.
Sophomore Dione Drew was an avid Facebook user for the two years that her profile was consistently activated. She used it for monitoring the student groups she is involved in and for keeping in touch with friends, but eventually it got to be overwhelming.
“Facebook was a big part of my life,” said Drew.
She had become Facebook friends with over 1,000 people, many of whom she did not really know. When she would de-friend people she did not talk to with any regularity, they would take it as a personal offense. Once Facebook opened up to the public, men she did not know would message her with inappropriate sexual advances.
Drew said she decided to deactivate, at least for a while, to restore normalcy to her life. As far as keeping in touch with people, she figured, “The people I wanted to keep in touch with had my number.”
Sophomore Pierce Johnson takes another approach. He deactivates from time to time so that he can focus on other activities. Johnson says he reactivates his profile in roughly-three-week intervals but probably will not be activating it again in the next few months due to his busy schedule.
“I have other commitments,” said Johnson. “[Facebook is] something to waste time with, so it’s not a major part of my life.”
Junior Will Arndt deactivated for more long-term purposes. Arndt had heard that potential employers and graduate schools could access his Facebook profile and assess whether or not he would be an acceptable candidate. “I didn’t have anything particularly scandalous on my profile, but so much is out of your control on Facebook,” said Arndt. “You never know when a friend is going to tag you in a less-than-flattering photo or write something uncomfortable on your wall.”
Initially, Arndt found Facebook was a helpful social tool when he first arrived at college.
“It was exciting and comforting as an incoming freshman to already feel like I knew a few people on campus before classes began,” he noted.
But Facebook began to evolve to include users beyond the scope of just college students. Now anyone can be on Facebook, including teachers, parents, coworkers and younger siblings, to name a few.
The fact that all of these people could access so much personal information may be unsettling. As Arndt pointed out, there are elements of Facebook’s interactive nature that make it fun, but they can also pose a threat because the owner of a given profile is not in complete control. Most students do not realize that once they post on Facebook, they are creating a permanent record of words and images. Even if posts are deleted or photos are taken down, in the time it takes to do that, anyone could have read, copied, printed or e-mailed that information. Once posted, it is public.
Considering the fact that you can hardly go out these days without digital cameras flashing everywhere, Arndt was particularly concerned with the popularity of posting photos on Facebook.
“It’s nice to have photos with your friends, but every now and then a picture appears in an album that’s embarrassing, or worse. The intention may have been harmless, but it’s still a real breach of trust. Even if you untag a photo of yourself, the photo is still on Facebook. I always feel a little vulnerable now when people start taking pictures.”
Of course, Facebook is not all terrible, and even the people who have deactivated their profiles understand-they themselves were active participants at one time, too.
“I think Facebook’s cool. I understand the purpose behind it,” said Johnson. But he added, “For some people, it seems like it’s become a necessity. Some people can’t interact in real life. Plus the stalking is scary.”
Drew commented on the role of Facebook in perpetuating gossip and drama. “I think Facebook results in a lot of social drama that it shouldn’t result in,” said Drew. “It [should just be] a communication tool.”
If you find that Facebook adds unnecessary stress to your life, you might want to consider the possibility of temporarily deactivating your profile. As these students can testify, you will survive.
Top 5 messages you DON’T want to receive from Facebook
- “Your mom has commented on a photo of you”
- “Your future employer has de-friended you”
- “You have been tagged in the album ‘Beer Pong Makes People Puke!'”
- “The campus police chief has poked you”
- “The Chancellor has sent you a ‘Hotties’ request”