There are two problems I have today:
I read an article about some random technical school in Pennsylvania that decided in cruelty—I mean, experimentation—to ban Facebook and other internet timewasters for a week. Apparently, there was a MAJOR BACKLASH. I can imagine students protesting, holding up signs with horribly misspelled slogans (FACBOOK KNOW!, U CNT DENY R FREEDMS!). I don’t get it at all. Personally, I think Facebook is for stalkers and people with absolutely no social skills to make friends on their own. What happened to the days when, if you wanted to talk to someone, you would pick up the phone and call them, or even more radical, go to their house and meet them face to face, or at least at Starbucks?
In the past 10 years, the world of technology has changed so much, but has it really been for the better? Sure, with Facebook you could have over 500 friends but how many do you actually have in real life? And who are you actually talking to? Is it some cute 13-year-old who says they like you, or is it some 50-year-old pervert who’s stalking you hoping you’ll come to the park for a visit? Those profiles are so easily faked you have no idea who it is you’re friending.
I don’t get Facebook. I have a Facebook page, but I don’t use it. I don’t get the point. It seems to be some vain attempt for people to try to be more important than they really are. It’s an ego thing; it’s something I would really like to study, but really can’t see myself actually doing. Some people are so desperate to give off the impression of being popular, that they don’t think about the people they’re getting attention from. But I can’t do it. I think it comes from my lack of trusting people. Or the fact that I just don’t give a damn.
Also there was a section of the article featured on Yahoo! that really just made me scoff with a strong sense of “they can’t be serious.”
Though Facebook has been blocked in some workplaces as a time-waster, it is a crucial tool for college students to coordinate social schedules, organize events, plan study sessions and collaborate on assignments.
Facebook, until they banned it at my random technical school in Georgia (which, by the way, got no attention from anybody) was widely used, but I can’t name a single person who used it to “plan study sessions”. I don’t know what type of studying sessions they’re talking about in this article, but if they’re anything like the people at my school, that is the biggest euphemism of the year.
Thing number two thing that was bothering me:
ELLEgirl.com
I went on ELLEgirl through a Google search randomly looking for a beauty routine, which is how I stumbled upon my new favorite person of the day, Kate Fridkis from Eat The Damn Cake. Anyway, I took a quiz where you answer five predetermined questions, and the website randomly generates “What Your Nightly Beauty Routine Says About You”. I, reluctantly, took the quiz, as I truly had nothing better to do, and here was my result:
Low Maintenance Lady
We can definitely respect your laid back attitude towards nightly beauty pampering but sooner or later your laziness is bound to catch up with you. Building a nightly routine is not as tough as you might think: set aside ten minutes each night before you go to bed, or even before you sit down to watch your favorite TV drama, and dedicate to performing some fundamental tasks. We don't expect you to transform into a beauty nut but you might find that brushing your teeth, washing your face, and moisturizing your skin are beneficial to your health and to your self-esteem.
I took a slight bit of offense to this, and not just because the site basically called a lazy, sloppy bitch who’s not capable of taking care of herself, and apparently is so far behind on the evolutionary scale that she must eat with her feet, but because of the message this is sending to teenage girls.
It seems, to me at least, that this is setting young girls up for a lifetime of obsessing about their appearance. “Sooner or later your laziness is bound to catch up with you.” There are 12-year-old girls reading this quiz result, and apparently a 21-year-old with no one else in her life, and that sentence says to me and my conspiracy theory reflex: “Yeah, you might be young and spritely now, but if you don’t get a move on it, you’re going to be a wrinkly old hag by 27. Have some teen brand cold cream we’re pushing!” It’s one thing to encourage people to take care of their bodies, it’s another to send subtle messages saying “you’re too lazy to be pretty.” And I do brush my teeth, by the way, and I moisturize daily with a big bottle o’ lotion, face washing is what rain is for.
“You might find that brushing your teeth…is beneficial to your health and to your self-esteem.” Thanks, ELLEgirl for saying I don’t care about myself. This makes me so mad I’m going to unlike ELLEgirl on Facebook. That’ll show ‘em.
What pisses you off? Leave a comment or something. I’ll be brushing my teeth non-stop for the next 2 days, with my feet.
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