“Hey, do you know that guy?”

“Oh yeah I’m friends with him on Facebook.”

Sound familiar? Being a part of a smaller school community, it’s easy to say that everyone knows everyone, but does everyone really know everyone? The answer is a definite no. We all know of each other, but we don’t all actually know each other. How? The phenomenon recognized as “Facebook creeping.” We live in a generation that relies so heavily on social networking, that the practice of face-to-face communication is quickly fading away, being replaced with socialization behind a computer screen.

Social networking makes it possible to familiarize yourself with people in a contact-free manner by simply just paging through a person’s profile. I must admit, I’m at fault of “creeping” too, but how could I possibly resist the temptation of finding out more about someone I don’t know with just a few clicks of a mouse? That’s the problem. We’re losing the social skill of communicating with others in person.

Because facebooking limits the amount of actual face-to-face communication, it can easily lead to incorrect judgment. If I’m too afraid to get to know someone in person, I can just creep on his/her Facebook profile, right? Little do I know, that person I’m creeping on might not be who I think they are. With the power of online profiles, we have the ability to portray ourselves however we want- whether it’s editing your pictures to make you look better or lying about your accomplishments. Relying on social networking to meet people allows for us to develop a false understanding of who someone truly is. Sure, maybe her profile picture is nice and we have plenty of “mutual friends,” but does that mean I know who she is? Not necessarily. For all I know, she could be a student using a fake Facebook profile for a research project- it’s happened before. A group of students from Millburn High School in New Jersey conducted an experiment that involved creating a fictional profile for a new student named “Lauren” on Facebook:

“Of the 200 students that “Lauren” requested to be friends with, nearly 60% accepted her friendship! Only two of those students messaged “Lauren,” questioning who she was. Additionally, 55 people took a look at her photo and profile, decided that she was “friend-worthy” and took the initiative to request that “Lauren” be their friend, even though they had no idea who she was.” (Podvey)

If you have a Facebook, think about how many friend requests you accept without knowing the person on a real level. Do you accept requests based off of the amount of mutual friends you have? Perhaps based off of the appearance of his/her profile picture? In many cases, you may not have met them in person, and may never will.

For many of us, Facebook has turned into a tool for “creeping” on other people’s lives that, in reality, we may not even be a part of. It’s not uncommon to hear people openly judging others based off of their appearance on Facebook, whether it’s good or bad. Every one needs to know of every one. Perhaps it applies more to the younger generation. We live in a culture where the amount of friends you have on Facebook determines how popular you are, the amount of likes on your profile pictures determines how pretty others think you are, and so on. Our world is continually depending on social networking to connect, where “creeping” is taking the place of real, face-to-face communication. If you don’t know me, come say hello, I’d gladly strike up a conversation with you. Then we can talk about that friend request on Facebook. Maybe we can even take a selfie or two, and I’ll tag you in my status.


Works Cited
Podvey, Heather. Apply Wise. N.p., 2009. Web. 16 Feb. 2013.