I have to admit I'm on the internet all of the time, 2 in the morning when i should be sleeping, when I'm at work and should be working, I even occasionally check my emails on my cell phone when I'm out and about, just in case something important has happened. I check the news, I chat to friends, and I can spend hours browsing for nothing in particular, when I should be tidying, or showering or getting ready to go somewhere. All that being said I have to say it took me some time to succumb to the joys of facebook.

Its not like I'm against networking sites, I was a member of friends reunited when it was very first invented, I've been a member on dating sites, and I often check out my space. It just seemed that facebook was one more flash in the pan site that would be popular for about 5 minutes till the next one came along.

Now, three or four months on, I'm addicted.

I'm not saying I've lead an exciting life, far from it, but I've been around, and I am the worst person for keeping in touch, we may of been best friends, room mates, or engaged to be married, but live away from me for a couple of years and chances are I would of forgotten your name! I don't remember half of the people I went to school with, college is a complete blur, and in the 5 years of my life I lived at the other end of the Country, working in a holiday camp, if you were one of the thousands of people I met chances are now your just a blurred face on an old photograph.

This is why facebook is great. I've 'made friends' with names and faces from my past that I've not seen or heard from in the longest time. I know exactly what people are up to, who they're still in touch with and how well they look now after all of this time.

The numerous applications I have been sent have taught me that if I was a Hollywood actor I'd be Ben Stiller, I'm borderline genius and apparently I have a secret admirer. I also learned about my sister and her boyfriends recent break up, just by checking my sisters profile.

Of course its not all good. It can be downright annoying when you spend ten minutes completing what looks to be an interesting quiz, only for it to tell you you must invite 20 friends to get your result. Then there's the people who for some reason ask to be your friend, when you know for a fact that you've never met them, they could just be weird or creepy, and why are they contacting you?

Then there's the much reported fraud links, people are apparently stealing peoples identity's by taking peoples names, dates of birth and home city off their facebook accounts. There's a simple solution to this though - just don't put your full date of birth on there.

Nobody I know has had any really bad experiences though, one friend was getting constantly bombarded with applications from a 'friend' she had never met, so she simply deleted him. Other than this everybody else including me, is now 100% addicted.

Oh yes, one last thing, there's really nothing better than seeing that the bully from high school has aged at twice the rate of everyone else, or that your high school crush is still single and looking as good as ever, go on, give it a try.

Learn more about this author, AJ Stephenson.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Testimonies: Facebook experiences?
We want to hear your view. Write now!