Thoughts on The Social Network (and social networking in general)

This was originally posted on ZoiksOnline.com (and if you're not a regular visitor over there, by golly, what are you waiting for?).

Like thousands of other movie-goers who are suckers for flicks about friends stabbing each other in the back, I saw The Social Network this weekend. I enjoyed the film very much, and I encourage you to see it if you haven't.

In addition to creating a desire in me to Google image search pictures of the real characters in the film, it also made me start thinking about life pre-Facebook (which, for some people, is a bit like thinking about life pre-electricity).

I remember the days when you had to walk three miles, uphill, barefoot in the snow to stalk somebody. You couldn't just find out someone's relationship status in an instant; you had to ask around. You had to do some homework. And finding out if your ex is married or if s/he got ugly post-break-up was way harder than just clicking your mouse three times. You actually had to spend some time in the bushes or follow them home from the grocery store to establish that.

And what about the days when we wanted to pass time at work? There were no status updates to check; we were relegated to playing solitaire or taking trips to the vending machine to relieve our heads from mundane tasks or nagging bosses. Of course, there was also always the ever-so-popular activity of looking for other jobs.

Or remember when we just took pictures to show family and friends? Now it seems we take them solely to prove to fellow Facebook users (AKA strangers) that we have an abundance of friends, get invited to parties and that we're young, fun, happenin' people. After all, nothing says "life of the party" like taking breaks from keg-stands to hop on a laptop to create online photo albums.

So what can we learn from The Social Network (other than that people who use Live Journal are not to be trusted)? I think it serves as a nice reminder about what life was like before it centered on virtual connections with people. Pre-2003, we actually had to request to be someone's friend (gasp!) in person. And if we wanted to find out what someone was interested in or information about their political beliefs, we had to (again gasp!) ask them. So for a nice trip down memory lane, why not start talking to people face-to-face again?

And if we really want to live out old times, we can always hide and stalk people in the bushes. Just be careful though as branches are scratchy and can cause way more real-life injuries than they do in FarmVille.