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By Kathryn Seiferth
Three years ago, my high school social life was drastically altered by my introduction to the cyber-world known as facebook.
It’s an interactive community designed, for me at least, to be used in a purely social capacity. I created my facebook page, picked a suitably adorable, but not so adorable to make me look self-centered, picture, and began adding “friends.” In a couple of months, I was addicted. My friends numbered in the hundreds, and I dedicated hours each night in talking to as many of them as my fingers could possibly get to. I left witty one-liners on the “walls” of those acquaintances I only knew well enough to nod at in the hallway. I pressed close friends to open up and they did. I managed to make guys spell out their feelings with hours of messaging, and settled petty cat fights between girlfriends. It’s safe to say a significant part of my life played out only in cyberspace. Now well into my second semester of college, I remain a facebook junkie. I happily embrace my role as a child of an age in which nonverbal conversations are more common than not.
But does connecting so easily come at a price? There is no question that there is a certain chill in communicating without any personal interaction. Personalities are hard to convey through messages, and “LOL” doesn’t bring the sound of real laughter no matter how many times it’s written. There are certain topics that are difficult, if not impossible, to discuss online — such as religion. Though I’m listed on facebook as a Christian and Episcopalian, I wouldn’t exactly say I’m big on cyberwitnessing. I have friends who have posted public bulletins on MySpace about their mission trips or youth groups, but not much more than that. It takes a much more intimate setting than the Internet to have a conversation concerning anything as complex as religion. In fact, the largest gap in modern communication lies in the fact that the depth of any emotion can’t be accurately conveyed electronically. Sympathy for a friend’s dead pet can be expressed through a simple text message, but would never be appropriate if it were a loved one. A certain level of humanity seems to be unattainable in the cyber-world.
The Internet is a gift that keeps me connected, albeit sometimes loosely, to masses of people who have touched my life. My high school class — people I’ve known since early childhood — is scattered across the country at different schools. I may not stay close to most of the people I spent my teenage years with, but at least I’ll stay connected to them. This idea of being connected, despite distance, is a quality that defines my generation. For me, that connection is worth sacrificing the intimacy of a conventional conversation. I am a die-hard cyber-girl. Whether these old friends stay in my life or not, it’s comforting to know they’ll always be only a mouse click away.
Kathryn Seiferth is a freshman majoring in mass media at Tusculum College.
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