Write Where I Want It: Facebook

Rachel Youngberg
Senior Columnist

Ah, Facebook.com, the place where all those things about yourself you don’t consider secrets are revealed to people you wish didn’t know them.
This article will not discuss the fact that your friends on Facebook are people you seldom talked to in high school. Or that people post their cell numbers on their profile pages, then are alarmed when someone uses that number to call about finishing that marketing project. Or that your professors or parents are now “friends,” not mentors—which might be a good distinction.
Maybe the Facebook gods should institute different qualifications for friends (e.g. friend, mentor, guardian, frenemy, coworker, BFF, etc.) Or even that it is less of a “networking” but more of a “stalking” site. But is it?
More and more, I am finding that the only place I can get in touch with industry connections for my future career is on Facebook.
The site is actually being used for its original purpose, networking.
You know those annoying, automatic “bounce back” e-mails you receive when the address you sent to no longer exists? This has happened to me twice in the past nine months. Hopefully the next time I won’t have to contact a publisher, editor or journalist for the Associated Press via Facebook message.
But when does one outgrow Facebook? Senior year of college? Two years after graduation? After securing a career job? Once your children use it? Never?
I deactivated my Facebook account for the better part of last year and I barely noticed.
If people needed to reach me, they called, e-mailed or Skyped. Who was truly hurt though? Facebook.
Just for a good laugh, go deactivate your account (don’t worry, all you have to do is log in again, and it’s like you were never gone). If you can’t bear the possibility of 30 minutes without Facebook, here is the pathetic reality.
First, the site shows five of the friends you message most or appear frequently with in pictures. “Nathan will miss you. Amanda will miss you. Rachel will miss you.” Then, it asks why you are deactivating.
For example: “I don’t find Facebook useful.” Reply: “You may find Facebook more useful by connecting with more of your friends. Check out our Friend Finder to see who you know on the site. Also, check out the Getting Started Guide to get an overview and tips on using Facebook. Don’t find the Wall or Groups particularly useful? Besides our core features, you can also find additional functionality built by outside developers. Check out our Application Directory to find what else we have to offer.”
Facebook may have some extremely valuable networking potential; yet, the majority of profiles simply boast of one’s supernatural ability to Teen Wolf a beer (I know, yours doesn’t).
You hear enough from the Career Services, CSS class and your parents, but remember that Facebook is seriously a networking site—no matter how much I would like to think otherwise. So please, post responsibly.

Ray of Sunshine: Under Pressure

Ray Arimura
Staff Columnist

For many students, midterms are a shock. The idea that the semester is half-over is absolutely terrifying, especially if you thought you had more time to raise you grades. As I write this article, I am contemplating the five papers I have to write and the two tests I have within the next week. Cue the hyperventilating.
Every time I feel stressed or upset about school or anything else in my life, I hit the gym and work out until I collapse. This results in a healthier, more toned and slightly masculine-looking body while dissolving any remaining panic and tears I have pent up within me.
Everyone has a different way of dealing with stress. While I’m lying on my dorm room floor trying to recover from an intense workout, my roommate decides to go on a Martha Stewart overload and begins to make crafts to deal with pressure.
Both of these examples are positive ways to relieve stress. However, there are several negative reactions to this time of year.
The first example is the over-eater. When they get nervous, they eat their anxieties. This usually results in the infamous freshman 15 (followed by the sophomore 30, the junior 45… it’s a vicious cycle). Comfort foods are only a temporary relief, resulting in guilt over what you just ate and more stress.
Another way to deal with stress is to party your pants off. Not to be confused with the party in your pants, this is when a student is so overwhelmed by school they turn to self-destructive partying.
It’s ok to relieve stress through a party once in a while, but it is near impossible to study for a midterm while in the hospital recovering from alcohol poisoning.
Perhaps the most annoying, yet gratifying stress-reducers are derived from acting out. Ask any of the girls that live on my floor, my roommate and I tend to be loud and rambunctious whenever we feel stressed. We (most of the time) follow the community code so we don’t get written up. However, the more recent hijinks involve duct taping a teddy bear to a Resident Assistant’s door and me running around in a Snuggie and not much else while attempting to access Narnia through any given closet.
As long as you are respectful of others, there is a plethora of stress-reducers that don’t result in destruction of property, your liver, etc. Good luck on midterms, and try to not land yourself in trouble.