by Adam Kopp ’11

When a Sherwood student tries to visit Facebook from a school computer, he finds himself staring at a stop sign, a visual reminder that the social networking site is inaccessible at 300 Olney-Sandy Spring Road. If one turns a blind eye to the countless students using Facebook on smart phones, school becomes the final place free from “friend”-ing. Facebook, at present, has completely permeated 21st century life. The site counts 500 million active users, and each month, these users spend 700 billion minutes browsing the blue-headed behemoth. While it’s easy enough for Andrew Dodge, IT Systems Specialist, to keep the student body off of Facebook while in Sherwood’s confines, the possibility of total restriction lays in the hands of the few students who grasp for it.The question becomes “Why would students want to stop using Facebook?” To a friend-less non-user, Facebook may seem no different than other sites. Fellow Alexa-powerhouse Google comes to mind. It seems doubtful that anyone has been up at night trying to kick a Google-addiction. The difference of course is that Google tries to get users to a destination as quickly as possible; Facebook, on the other hand, is the ensnaring destination. Immediately upon entering, a visitor is tasked with choosing between viewing photos, playing Farmville, Mafia Wars or Café World, or engaging in numerous other tasks.

Junior Caitlin Kyber was, for a time, an avid consumer of Facebook’s vices. “I strongly felt that Facebook consumed way too much of my time,” said Kyber. “It became rather addicting; I would rather be on Facebook than doing my homework or other important activities.” The detrimental effect that social networking was having on other facets of her life led Kyber to deactivate her account. Deactivation essentially erases users from the world of Facebook, and their profiles may no longer be viewed. Deactivation is the closest thing Facebook has to opting-out, but simply logging back onto the site post-deactivation restores an account to its full state.

Kyber put no end-date on her self-imposed exile and simply wanted to see how long she could last without Facebook. Deactivating her account in February, she made it one week before entering her e-mail address and password. She described the week as “difficult.” Seven days may seem like a brief period, but Kyber was satisfied. “I felt that one week of detox was enough to rid [me of] my bad habits gained from social-networking,” said Kyber.

Where Kyber turned her back on Facebook for pragmatic reasons, some students withdraw based on ideals. Senior Wyatt Shapiro, for instance, has twice stopped using Facebook, for the months of November and March. As his inspiration, he cites the Luddites, British textile artisans who opposed the advancement of mechanized looms. Unlike Kyber, Shapiro set specific dates for his return in order to make the goal more attainable. Claiming that his Facebook-free months were the best time of his life, Shapiro noted that having to initiate face-to-face conversations made him more sociable. Not everyone shared his conviction, though, and he at times felt like an outsider.

“[Facebook] has consumed society to the point where it has become society. As a willing drone of the computerized institution of ‘wall posts’ and ‘statuses’ I felt compelled to return,” said Shapiro.