The New Social Network

I am a Facebook junkie. It is almost perpetually open on my computer, or on my phone's browser. I know a lot of people who are like me in that respect; people who cannot go a day with checking it, or a day without seeing what everyone else is doing. It's a cultural phenomenon-- something that started out as an outlet for college students has grown into something near uncontrollable. Not only is it a way to stay connected with friends, or classmates-- but a way to reconnect with old friends, meet new friends, and even (sometimes unfortunately) a way for your family to stay up-to-date with you.
So when I saw that there would be a major-motion picture for it, I was really excited. I think it is a great commentary on the generation we are-- the generation we have helped to create, and the way technology influences the way we do everything. We have become a society dependent on the internet, and not just the internet, but social networking. It's hard to remember what it was like before Facebook...
I'm curious as to what everyone else thinks about this.. Is it a good or bad thing that we have become so dependent on social networking? Is it a little bit of both? We have lost a lot of what used to be "normal" communications with other people. I mean look at the class this is for-- we never once meet in person. Everything is electronically communicated. We have a facebook page dedicated to our class... The president has a facebook fan page-- as does every band, television show, movie, actor, politician, director, etc you can think of...
Is this really a bad thing though? It allows us to keep in touch with dozens (if not hundreds) of people we may never run into often. With family members and friends who have moved away. Facebook kept me in touch with a good friend of mine while he was deployed in Iraq... while another was doing study abroad in Niger, Africa... another in LA. Not to mention, I am still in touch with most of my good friends from high school because of it-- something I know for certain would not have happened without it.

Personally I think we have come too far to regress at all. I am not one to think that there will suddenly be a cultural revolution wherein the internet takes a backseat to actual face-to-face interaction. If anything, the technical revolution has begun to grow faster than we can keep up with. New technologies are out-of-date within six months or less.
We have to be prepared for what the future will potentially bring us.


(this is the trailer for that film which was released yesterday. can't wait to actually see it! I'll post a review once I have)