Imperishable Inheritance

I remember when my brother and some of my Crusade friends encouraged me (almost urged me) to join the Facebook so that they might add me as one of their friends. When I started dating Stephanie (my ex-girlfriend) she pushed the issue. So, alas I gave in and signed up. What's the harm right? Well, there is some harm to this system.

First, I realized the immense amount of time others were putting into this site (I've stories up wards of several hours a day), and I myself was sucked in. I soon realized the amount of time I was wasting in this site, but more realizations were yet to come.

I once was at work and decided to check the site (because I'm so busy as a government employee), and our firewall blocks certain sites and when I went there it brought up a warning page that said it was under the "Dating" category. Dating? How is the Facebook a dating site? Well, after more and more thought I realized that is exactly what the site is. Let me explain more of how this is.

You first spend endless amounts of time getting the picture right. It has to look a certain way to impress the would-be viewers. After all, who would want to put up a picture that wouldn't attract people? You often find people change their picture often whenever they get a better picture. It is an essential part of a dating site to have a perfect picture, and I'm sure that if the Facebook allowed more than one picture most would have more than one. Of course then you have to make sure you have lots of friends. You can't just have a handful, you have to keep up with everyone else. In fact, I rarely see a profile (unless it's new) that has less than 50 friends listed! You can add friends to your list from all across the country to show (1) how popular you are and (2) how varied your friends are.

The Facebook then provides essential information to a dating site: birthday, major, e-mail, when you became a member, interests, and jobs/clubs. You can even add information like your cell phone number, address, screenname, personal website, another e-mail address, and even your political stance (to make sure you agree with the "would-be" date). The profiles then contain your favorite music, movies, and quotes (which, when clicked will bring up other users with the same artist). I see many profiles who use this space as the opportunity to show how "eclectic" they are. I look at some of those profiles, and it's quite obvious it doesn't fit with that person.

You can then create groups which help to put people into groups of common interest to see if this person is a potential. There are groups spanning from "WSU Christians" to "Alcohol Has Caused Me Legal Problems and/or Injuries" to "I Have Friends On Facebook I've Never Met B4.." It's amazing how many different varieties of groups there are.

The most obvious place where it parallels a dating site is the "Relationship Status" section. You can put on there that you're single, married, in a relationship, or in an open relationship (whatever that means). You can choose whether you're interested in men or women, and you can say whether you're looking for Friendship, Dating, A Relationship, Random Play, or Whatever I can get. (Someone please explain to me what is the difference between "Dating" and "A Relationship.")

Then the all important search feature which is essential to every dating website. You can search globally (that is among all the colleges in Facebook) or locally. You can specify if you're looking for a man/women, single/dating, what they're looking for (i.e. a relationship), and even political view. I realized when seeing this that the Facebook is indeed a dating site! This site just seems to be a socially acceptable version of a dating site for college students. In fact, my ex was asked out several times by people she'd never met through that site. Amazing.

The Facebook is also never talked about in the midst of people. It's become a taboo to talk about it in public. Why? Because it's a dating site! No one wants to admit that they're a part of a dating site! I have met some interesting people through it, but I have never met them in person! In fact, for all I know they could not even be the person that's on the profile (common on the Internet). Now, should I stay in or leave the site? Hmmm....