Last time I checked I had 457 friends. Adding up my Facebook, MySpace and Hi5 contacts seems to make me one of the social butterflies. Who needs dressing up nicely and hanging around in posh places when with a click of a mouse I can get all my friends drunk thanks to Facebook’s booze mail?
For those who have been for the past couple of months alienated from Planet Earth the abovementioned are online directories that have been connecting people through online social networks. These virtual friends can be found through common interests or else can act as a reinforcement of existing friendships.
These websites allow you to create a profile, upload a picture and connect to "friends" across the campus and country. I’m using the words friends in quotation marks because, let's face it, I cannot be that likeable. There is no possible way I, or anyone else, have more than 400 friends!
If you haven't signed up for Facebook yet, I suggest you don't. It's about as addictive as the caffeine all students down during the exam period. Admittedly, I was never that much of a Facebook but during the hours attempting to cram in legal jargon I got hooked. Judging by the number of messages left on my Funwall, seems like all my fellow University mates were.
It is hard to find a forum for communication that hasn’t been permanently altered by the digital age. Whilst my parents, who once had to plead for me to hang up the telephone, now find me glued to the computer screen, carrying on two or three instant messaging conversations at once. Social networking has survived being a fad and has instead become an institution in itself. No longer can I worry about keeping in touch with my best friends from home.
Worse still, I am fed up of receiving ‘friend requests’ from upcoming general election candidates, bar owners et al. What about Gmail? Don’t get me started. The email notifier has become my worst nightmare. Gone are the days when we could leave work at home or at the office. Now my colleagues can text, call or email me and remind me about the upcoming deadlines and there is no escape.
Internet has now officially enslaved us. Be it high up on board a plane or on board a ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean a notebook, which thanks to modern technology can be lighter than a big bottle of water, can be carried around.
Virtual reality's real and potential benefits are clear. Less clear, though, are its possible side effects on individuals and society itself. As with any novel technology, virtual worlds bring new opportunities and new problems. The death toll of 13 was revealed some days ago in South Wales after fears were raised that a recent string of seven suicides may have links to social networking websites.
In the end, of course, the technology will be what we make it. It could be a lifesaving godsend, or as our education system reformers are trying to portray it, a groundbreaking educational tool. Moreover, it could be a mindless, energy-sapping diversion and a playground for immorality. Chances are, until we stop seeing the real and virtual realms as distinct and conflicting, it will be all these things.
Daniela Bartolo is a second year Bachelor of Laws student and Insite’s International Officer.