The Slipperiest of Slippery Slopes

I'm walking on thin ice.  Literally ten minutes ago I made a twitter, and I only "discovered" facebook, like, a month ago.  Seriously.

But I can tell you that while I may be late to the party-indeed, a lot of us left when that crazy drunk chick started dancing on tables-I now know why people are so addicted to social media.  So, it's a social experiment, really...

I've always censured social media as something dehumanizing, because it makes people forget what face-to-face interaction is like, and how important it is.  I thought that not only did it waste time, but it also made comformist zombies out of its users.  It was an industry that fed on idleness, decadency, and superficiality.  

And I don't disagree with past-Cynthia.

But I haven't been fair; I never saw the benefits.  Being 17, I have to think about college, which is advancing with alarming velocity.  I'll lose at least half my friends to out-of-state schools-more if I'm one of their number.  No one writes letters anymore (too bad, because I'd have been so down), and phone calls are becoming a thing of the past.  

There's another thing I hadn't thought of.  There's something enchanting about communicating in a removed, impersonal way in short, disointed bursts.  Suddenly things are ten times funnier than if the same person said it in real life.  The instant-gratification principle mixes with irony, I think.  

Part of the reason I even jumped on the band wagon was that social media and its effects are ubiquitous themes in school nowadays.  We discuss it in AP Spanish.  I wrote about it on my SAT essay.  We read tweets in our school newspaper.  

I feel like a cowboy, with the coming of trains and industrialization.  The dawn of a new era ushers in the death of another.  Yes, its a little sad, especially since so few seem to mourn its passing.  I mean, if I could stick to my handwritten letters and blotters and long telephone calls, I would.  But it's just not practical anymore.  

I'm no hipster, so I won't try to fight the future.  Besides.  Did y'all know that facebook has GAMES?