Facebook is like a bad high school party — you don’t really want to be there, but feel like you have to go.

Every time you show up you hope it will be different. That you’ll actually hang out with cool people, connect with friends, and leave feeling alive. But in the end, you’ll go to bed wondering why you just wasted three hours of your life yet again.

Why is Facebook just like a bad high school party  — so appealing, yet in the end, so lacking?

3 Reasons Why Facebook is Nothing More Than a Bad High School Party

1. The Corner Look-and-Lurk

A basement corner is pretty much the go-to position for any proper high school party. You swore you’d talk to more people. Or heck even build up the nerve to approach your crush, but like a bad sci-fi movie where the space ship gets pulled into a black hole, the corner look-and-lurk‘s pull is far too strong.

On Facebook it’s so much easier to lurk than engage.

“Wow, what is she wearing?”

“I didn’t know they were together?”

“Looks like someone’s drunk again.”

97.7% of all Facebook is spent in that same corner, lurking on those you swore you’d interact with. We spend so much time in the corner and then leave feeling like no one likes us.

We spend hours on Facebook, feeding our Obsessive Comparison Disorder with Miracle-Gro and then wonder why it’s grown so big.

2. Pseudo-Community

Facebook is pseudo-community at it’s finest. The appearance of community, without real conversation. The form of human interaction without ever speaking or looking anyone in the eye. The noise around you is blaring, so you say a quick comment before you’re shoved to something else.

It’s a miserable feeling being surrounded by thousands of people, all seemingly having an amazing time, when you couldn’t feel more alone.

Our generation is living in a paradox of connected isolation. Pseudo-communtiy all-around, while feeling very much alone.

3. We’ll Keep Going Back

Facebook, like the high school party, is Love/Hate at it’s finest. Like watching a bad reality TV show while eating potato chips, you just keep chowing down no matter how nauseous it makes you feel.

You know how the night is going to end up, and yet, you can’t help yourself from taking one more bite.

Quit Facebook?

Is that what I’m getting at?

Well, if Facebook makes us feel more anxious than alive.

If Facebook is a time-suck.

If Facebook is feeding our Obsessive Comparison Disorders with Miracle-Gro.

If Facebook is like holding that red plastic cup, your stomach beginning to churn as you wonder how the heck you ended up here again.

Well, then maybe it’s time we stop going.

Maybe at 9:17 pm when we feel the lure of human interaction, we should call a friend instead.

Maybe instead of spending so much time creating our Facebook PR spins to make our lives look virtually appealing, we should spend more time, you know, actually creating our lives.

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