Hundreds of pictures, thousands of “friends,” the funniest of comments and the finest slang around are the ideal ingredients for the perfect Facebook profile. Countless hours are spent categorizing, comparing oneself to others and waiting for that little red box to show up in the corner of the screen indicating that you have received an esteemed notification. You don’t not know why you care so much about the lives of strangers. All you know is that for some reason, you feel this need to maintain your Facebook account.

In analyzing these activities, the first question that comes to mind is, “Why?” Why has Facebook become such a popular pasttime for American youth? Why is it the prominent focus of teens today? Why, in a global society where America is slowly but steadily falling off the intellectual podium of the world, do teens find themselves on Facebook for nearly 30 hours a week?

Mindless gabbing and gossip have replaced intelligent conversation, changes in relationship statuses have become headline news and productive social communication and interaction have been reduced to exchanges of sentence fragments and abbreviations. Facebook has transcended its goal of becoming a widespread “social network” by becoming our social lives.

Yet, the epidemic does not stop there. Facebook has essentially replaced our social skills. Before Facebook, we had no insight into the lives of others. Strangers remained absolute strangers until a personal interaction was initiated. People learned about others through face-to-face conversation rather than through “Facebook stalking.” Facebook has stolen our need for conversation by providing an easy online alternative. We now rely on Facebook to learn about others and to interact socially so much so that we potentially miss the time in our lives where these social and conversational skills are developed.

Facebook is generally most popular amongst college students. A recent survey by istrategylabs.com found that 40 percent of Facebook’s approximately 900 million users are between the ages of 18 and 24. It is during this time in our lives that we need to build a solid foundation of social skills from which to base our future careers. We attend college to further our educations and to receive the tools necessary to work in a professional environment, but these tools aren’t limited to just textbook chapters and lectures. College presents us with a unique opportunity to interact with others and to build social skills in an environment free of judgment. Not only do we get a chance to learn how to meet and deal with people. We get a chance to learn how to converse with people, prior to being thrust into the professional field. College provides us with the opportunity to build our conversational confidence, which is crucial when it comes to working in professional environment. In learning how to deal with fellow students, professors and superiors, we gain confidence in the way we speak and present ourselves. We learn to speak more clearly and with more purpose, to not appear nervous or awkward and to become confident speakers and conversationalists. It is with this confidence that speaking to people in a professional environment such as fellow employees, employers and bosses becomes a much less intimidating and nerve-racking task.

If this time of our lives is spent under the aforementioned “Facebook stalk” mentality, than we will lose the opportunity to develop these skills entirely. If we do not branch out from the comfortable confines of our computer screens during the few years we have at college, we run the risk of having little to no face-to-face conversational confidence or experience when we truly need it in the professional world. Conversation leads to relationships, these relationships lead to networking and this networking can provide job opportunities. Knowing and making positive first impressions on large amounts of people (through conversation and interaction, not through Facebook) is a major aspect of becoming successful in any business. Knowing this large and diverse group of people promotes the formation of connections. These connections, once established through the intelligent conversation that Facebook is robbing of America’s youth, can provide you with greatly unexpected opportunities. It is said that, “Life isn’t about what you know; it’s about who you know.” While this quote may not be entirely true, it does suggest a valid point: conversations provide connections to job prospects. Our youth needs to realize this.

Facebook claims to be a great social network; however, it is an obvious detriment to developing truly beneficial social skills. Without these social skills, we are forced to abandon meaningful social interactions and the potential friendships, connections and opportunities that such interactions can provide.