Faceless

I understand that FaceBook provides an often extraneous amount of connections to people who may or may not be your 'friends.' On a side note, I think the label 'friend' should be changed to, say, 'acquaintance.' Only true friends should be labeled as such. Anyway, I would like to think myself as not being on FaceBook. However, I am in lieu of having no 'face.' If one were to look at my profile, all they would see is my basic personal information. There's no updated wall, there's no profile picture, and I don't maintain it or my connections.

I want to take this chance to discuss the implications of FaceBook. As for me, I only created my account to prevent the possibility of my small-time identification theft. Many employers and school admissions offices are looking at applicant profiles. What kind of people are you associated with? What are willing to post? Is there a picture of you, say, breaking the law? As such, I originally forwent all of FaceBook. But another idea came to me--what of the possibility of identification theft? Now I'm referring to the stealing of important numbers, but rather my reputation. In other words, I was afraid of someone creating an account in my name out of malice to damage my name. When searching for my FaceBook profile, employers and schools would see this and not who I really am. I am an extremely introverted person who does not actually like to have hundreds of friends. On FaceBook, I have at most 10 friends, of which all but one are family, whom I don't check up on nor do I send updates to. My existence hasn't even been confirmed by FaceBook, as that would require a text message. Guess who doesn't have texting? Yeah, I'd have to pay for such a confirmation.

Concerning the introverted and non-social, it would appear that these 'lonely' aspects have been made even more 'extreme' as socialites reach new levels. I myself have very few friends, if any at all. This though my depend on my definition of a 'friend,' which doesn't include people I would typically say 'hi' to. I suppose as an introvert, I seek close friendships (intimate, if you will) and not the shallow acquaintances. Contrast this to the extroverts, and I would appear to possibly insane. However, the introverts have remained the same--one can have less than no friends. The extroverts, on the other hand, are becoming more extreme with more friends than ever, especially between those who never met and never will. A certain piece of technology is responsible for this. And FaceBook is getting more competition with the new Google+. It is a bit similar to dating websites which split up possible couples (one only on site A and another only one Site B will never meet online); I just hope you don't believe in soul mates. However, at least one or both are free, but now one will have even more connections and distractions to look at. Having the same friend on both FaceBook and Google+ means you'll have to check both in the case the friend posts only on one of the two.

As my final stream of consciousness, I am actually uncomfortable posting this as I am with this whole blog in general. However, my grades depend on these posts. I also realize humans are social creatures, but I have a particular range of these social interactions. With the change in society to have even more connections, I become to appear ever more as a hermit in lieu of staying home (I do leave the house). I am also suprised to see myself as being addicted to the Internet. I too am stressed when I am unplugged, although obviously it isn't the lack of connect to FaceBook or any social outlet.