In response to the opinion column written by Amanda Hooper in Tuesdays’ paper, I have to say: “Congratulations!”

A lot of people spend so much of their time wrapped up in the who’s who of television and media that they cannot seem to realize the importance of connecting to the real world; the importance of getting out and doing things. Kudos to Ms. Hooper for her well-written column on this national disaster (and I do mean that).

However, I was very disturbed in the last half of her column in which she verbally bashed the Facebook phenomenon.

I’ll refrain from a full explanation of what Facebook is, as I recently read another very good piece in this paper regarding it in all its wonder. I do feel the need to stand up and fight for my new-found network from those who would seek to attack it. Many people who don’t use Facebook — and apparently a few who do — would seek to place it in the category of a matchmaker.com sort of network — which it is not.

Facebook, aside from being mainly for the college community, is a way to meet and interact with people who share similar interests, or in the case of my Introduction to Mass Communications course, a way for students in the same course to exchange information quickly and easily.

It was stated, “We desire friends and belonging, but a number on a webpage hardly creates this.” On the contrary, I have met, and for the most part, previously knew all of the people on my “friends list.” I often use it to search through my old high school and get a hold of people I haven’t spoken to in a while. Facebook provides me the means to enter a name and, most of the time, pull up a picture and a number (one which I had probably written down and lost at some point).

My boyfriend (also a Facebook user) tells me that he and his co-workers can use it to check out information on the new trainees, saving them quite a bit of time. Riddle me this: How would you feel if someone you barely knew from a class walked up to you out of the blue before and said: “Hi, my name is ________. I’d like to get to know more about you if I could, and maybe we could hang out sometime.”

Now, for some very open-minded people, this may only be a little creepy, but for most of us, we would go into high alert every time this person came near us. Facebook offers the opportunity to get to know the people in your class, major or building, and ask them if they would like to hang out without scaring them into seclusion.

As far as Facebook being “just another lazy excuse to disengage from life,” I strongly disagree. Technology is advancing very rapidly, and we must learn to distinguish the entertainment, mind-numbing television shows and chat rooms from the tools. Facebook offers real people — I resent being referred to as just another “soul-less Facebook member.”

So I strongly urge that students use Facebook, but not abuse it. It can be addictive, so proceed with caution, but definitely seize the opportunity to get to know the people you are sharing your school, your community and your experiences with.

E-mail comments to Amanda at [email protected].