it’s mostly for my own good. i try to avoid women’s magazines, but i’ve recently come to the conclusion that Facebook provides a whole other set of standards by which to compare myself and conclude that my lifestyle and i somehow don’t measure up. however illusory the Facebook reality may be, it’s a surprisingly powerful one…especially when it’s your primary method of procrastination. everyone knows that the correlation between amount of time spent on Facebook and the amount of work one has to finish is strong. if you’ve got 20+ pages to write (as was my case last weekend) or a few exams to study for, chances are you’re wasting a disproportionate quantity of your study time browsing wall-to-walls and pics of party people doin’ what they do best. (and then wasting even more time feeling badly that you're not doing the same.)
the thing about Facebook (a fact all too easy to lose sight of) is that it is all about the presentation. no one is actually having as much fun or has as many friends as their profile might lead you to believe. when you think about it, a person’s profile is like a spread in Vogue: although the finished product is glossy and sophisticated, that’s only because somewhere a dedicated photo editor has done his or her job, using the magic of PhotoShop to slenderize and beautify. reality, on the other hand, is more akin to that Newsweek cover of Sarah Palin: wrinkled, whiskered, and generally unflattering.
seriously though, who among us would voluntarily choose to present a Newsweek version of ourselves to the virtual world, when we have the option of highlighting only our best qualities? maybe some admirably honest souls would.
most, however, have Facebook stalkers to impress.
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