From the Editor... – La Verne Magazine

Kristen Campbell, Editor in Chief / photo by Scott Mirimanian

I quit Facebook. It was like quitting chocolate. When I smell chocolate and see its delectability begging me to consume its very being I cannot help but surrender. It used to be the same way with Facebook, but to a higher degree. So I quit. People looked at me like I was irrational, PMSing or definitely sleep-deprived. Frankly, I was told I was out of my mind.

My favorite quote about my decision was, and still is, “Saying you are going to quit Facebook is like saying you are going to commit suicide. It sounds like a good idea until you actually get around to doing it.” It definitely rings true to how my friends were feeling.

Well, I did it. I guess you could say I pulled the trigger. I logged on, clicked the deactivate button and breathed a sigh of relief. I was off, disconnected, free. I officially cast myself out of my generation. Talk about voting myself off the island.

Why did I do it? Many would say it was the center of my universe. I made a new friend, and I sent the person a friend request. I found a study buddy, and I sent the person a friend request. When I had that difficult research paper due at 8 a.m., my writer’s block was turned into Facebook surfing.

Facebook is the world’s venting outlet, coping mechanism and a main source for immediate information. We use Facebook as our main form of communication including baby shower invites, birthday reminders and birthday greetings. What happened to a calendar or a mailed invitation on pretty stationary?

I remember when I made friends as a child. It used to be about exchanging home phone numbers to get a hold of each other, or swapping addresses so we could write letters through snail mail. If a big event occurred, I did not know until the people involved told me personally. Information was on a need-to-know basis.

In the span of one month, I found out about the birth of a baby, two engagements, one pregnancy, the acceptance into a graduate program and a retirement, to name a few, all within an hour of the events occurring. We want to share our happiness with the world. We want the instant gratification from those who read our status and relationship updates. We want to feel important based on how many comments or “likes” our post receives. We as Facebook users thrive off of how important our updates are to our friends. If nobody notices a funny story, a venting status or a witty comment, something mentally tells us we failed. But in reality, it could have been nothing more than our story happened to get posted at a low traffic hour. Yet so many users’ self-esteem gets crushed over something that is simplistic and obsolete in our development as humans.

Oh, by the way, I am back on. But I did not cave. Honest! Life – my career – made me go back on as a part of my internship. It has been a little over six months, and I am still on.

Granted I still post my witty comments and venting blurbs. I still look to it as a source of immediate information about my family and friends. But I do not seek approval for my comments or life observations. I am wiser for knowing I have the power to pull the plug.

Facebook is definitely a curse to the faint of heart and a blessing in disguise. See you online.