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Thursday, November 2
by Laurel
Since we started these updates in September, I haven't able to update about my time at Macalester in, yes, August. Since I run cross country, I arrived two weeks early for "preseason," a training time for the fall sports teams. Like you'd imagine, the extra time was especially helpful in my acclimation to campus. Since we only ran for a small fraction of the day, the rest of the time was spent figuring out locations on and off campus, setting up our dorms, buying pet fish, etc. By the time September 2 came, the move-in day for the rest of the first-years, the nine other first-year cross country runners and I felt like we easily knew the in's and out's of campus. When my roommate arrived looking for the financial aid office, I not only directed her toward it, but filled her in on the three types of squirrels on campus (light brown, black/ninja, and albino). So I was, without a doubt, set for school.
Preseason was when many of the first-years discovered facebook, a social-networking site initially open solely to college students but now available to all. I felt somewhat guilty helping some of my fellow first-years sign up for a facebook account, knowing the possible addiction that may follow. As a friend put it, "I could feel it sucking out my soul as I clicked through 114 photos tagged of this kid I barely knew in elementary school and his new pet ferret." And that's just the enigma to facebook: it allows you to be "friends" with anyone, even if you've never met him/her. Some think this expands the definition of "friend," but in my opinion, "friend" on facebook is a mere misnomer even though the label remains. So facebook isn't so much a book of friends, but as the name suggests, a book of faces, or surfaces, without any real depth or meaning. Although this is disappointing, I choose to view facebook functioning not as reliable communication between my friends but as an always-updating address book. No matter how I use facebook, I realize its frightening potential as a time-waster, so I posted a sign on my laptop saying "no facebook on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, or Saturdays" to remind me of my set limits. Although some have pointed out that this mere paper sign will not prevent me from using facebook, I beg to differ: I've been off for four days since this Monday. It must be working.
posted by Laurel
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