by Jessica A. Tucker

Created on: November 20, 2010

So, how many times in a day do you update your Facebook status, or flip through updates of your friends status messages, or log in to check on your virtual farm, animals, garden, or fish bowl? How many hours in a night do you spend playing on any of the numerous Facebook virtual games or Applications? Whether or not Facebook is a waste of time solely comes down to the discretion of each and every user. What kind of Facebook user are you?

When looking at the bare of bones of this, now world wide, social networking site, the basic idea or premise behind Facebook says convenience, a simple way of mass communication in a click of the Send button. Think of all the time saved not having to send out wedding invitations by hand, or Thank You notes, or Happy Birthdays cards. Think about the hours that you used to spend on the phone calling each and every one of your friends and family with good news, or bad news, or just saying hello. For some, Facebook seems to have almost replaced the telephone. In turn, is this convenience actually costing us some of those relationships that occur from more personal forms of communication like a phone call, a cup of coffee, or a real “Hug”?

For many users though, as Facebook grew and transformed into the site that it is today, logging in to delve through the miles upon miles of status updates and applications has become somewhat of an addiction and an incredibly large waste of time. Quickly, Facebook swept the planet’s online community like a wild fire as people all over the planet began uploading photos, inputting line upon line of personal information, and searching for long lost friends and family members. Then to make matters even worse, it went mobile. Now, cell phones across the nation beep updates, poke, and share files from under dinner tables, classroom desks, or even from the bubbly comfort of your bathtub.

Is it really necessary to be emailed, beeped, updated, or buzzed every time a childhood classmate you probably have not even talked to in twenty years changes their status or completes another level of some Facebook Application? Facebook has become a place that easily breeds time wastage; however, when used for the purposes that is was created the convenience that Facebook offers to users all over the world goes without compare.

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