Consider this:  you have a mountain of work to do, responsibility is tugging at your pant leg, a deadline ticks closer and closer and you are sitting at your computer reading what Jake just wrote on Mary’s wall. 

Yes, you are on Facebook. It has become a guilty pleasure for over 350 million in the past five years and everyone from your younger brother to your grandma is in the thick of it.

The question that must be asked is: why? Why take time to seek out other’s accomplishments, as mundane as they may be, and learn about them? It could be low self-esteem, curiosity, legitimate interest or just sheer boredom. The reality of it is we are infatuated with other’s lives and lagging behind in our own because of it. 

We want to see whose lives are better, who has failed more or who is hanging out with whom. Facebook keeps old friends in touch and allows one to discover information about new ones.  Facebook, or “crackbook” as the kids call it, is the current trendy addiction, but it does provide some relief from an otherwise eventless day.

The popularity of Facebook sprouts from the idea of connection. In a world where global communication is at our fingertips, it is no wonder that a website devoted to the idea of communication is the third most trafficked site on the web, behind Google and Yahoo. 

At UVic, one does not have to venture far to see the website in use. Walk through the library and the amount of Facebook-occupied screens is enormous. It seems to be the productive deterrence of choice for students, who ironically are the group of young adults who most need to strive for serious productivity. 

According to Facebook, the average user spends over 55 minutes per day on the site. This leads one to believe that there must be something prevalent and important to the website.

“It’s good because it gives one the opportunity to connect with people from around the world,” said UVic Faculty of Business student Nadia Aziz.

However, not all students share this outlook towards the networking  site. 

“Facebook isn’t so much about thinking; it’s just a more interactive way of staring at a screen,” said Andrew Fergusson, a  science major student at UVic.

Beyond verbal communication, Facebook is most recognized as a photo-sharing network and is currently the highest used website for this purpose. For this reason, students are increasingly living behind a camera lens at their social functions for the purpose of reliving  the highs and lows the following day. This has granted employers the ability to take careful notice of potential employee’s social ventures.

“I’m taking a great deal of caution in choosing which photos will remain on my Facebook profile as I am beginning to look for a summer job “ said Amanda Rees, a social sciences and prospective business student at UVic.

With Facebook becoming a growing productivity deterrent both in school and on the job, its popularity seems unquestionable. This does, however, seem to be the nature behind addiction: overuse and abuse. 

Facebook’s impact is determined by how you use it.  The choice is yours.