As much as I try to avoid it, I know that my Facebook profile misrepresents me.
That was actually a lesson I learned the hard way in my Spanish class last year. For some reason my professor wanted to be Facebook friends with my entire class and I believed her when she specifically promised “not to judge.” One day in the middle of class, true to her tendency to blurt out off-topic statements, she admitted to Facebook creeping on me the previous night and told my entire class that my Facebook made me look like an alcoholic.
Determined to prove her wrong, the second I got home that day I opened my own profile and began scanning through my tagged photos. I basically creeped on my own profile as if I were a stranger — and I was stunned to see the wrongful conclusions people could easily draw.
I came to the conclusion that Facebook is more of a personalized version of US Weekly than a true social network. Just as most of the pictures in popular tabloids are meant to provide entertainment and lead us to make assumptions about celebrities, Facebook pictures lead us to wrongful conclusions about our friends.
If my tagged photos on Facebook actually provided a realistic glimpse of my life, it’d be boring. I know that no one wants to look at pictures of me slaving away in Anschutz or sweating like a pig on the elliptical. So, although I spend way more time doing homework or working out than I do going out, my Facebook pictures fail to represent that.
The potential for misrepresentation doesn’t stop with the pictures. Wall posts, listed interests and status updates can also create a distorted image. For example, I’ve been asked more than a dozen times if I’m dating my best guy friend by people who only read our wall posts. Yes, it is pathetic and creepy. But I could also see how our frequent and sarcastic wall posts could, indeed, mislead people.
Six years ago, in the pre-Facebook days, people didn’t need to Facebook stalk a crush to get a grasp of their personality
A recent Nielson Company survey of web users found that Facebook users spend an average of seven hours a month using the site. Honestly, that’s a modest number compared to how much time my friends and I spend on Facebook. Imagine what we, “The Facebook Generation,” could accomplish if we spent a little less time creeping, and a little more time on, say, curing cancer…
I’ve heard that historians will label us “The Facebook Generation.” Aside from the results social network addiction has on our generation’s IQ, it’s equally important to make sure it doesn’t cause social damage. Just as we were told not to judge a book by its cover, parents need to start telling their kids not to judge a person by their Facebook.
— Matney is a U. Kansas sophomore in journalism.