I refuse to become a virtual vampire.

Why is Facebook so addicting? Machinist seeks to find an answer. I hope I am not alone in embarrassingly admitting that I check my Facebook page at least ten times a day (pretty much anytime I need a break from not working). While I typically try to ignore most of the apps constantly being generated on Facebook, I do believe that the use of persuasive technology does work. I will admit that I do update my "status" nearly every time something clever pops into my head (which is quite often) and that I have sent the occasional happy hour "drink" or two. However, in an effort to avoid getting sucked in too deeply into the vast wasteland of so-called "triggers" I have made two internal rules for myself when it comes to navigating the social networking universe. 

Rule number one: I absolutely refuse to become a virtual vampire. No, I don't want to bite you or suck your blood or whatever the hell it means if I click on your invitation to join your blood-thirsty coven, nor do I want to "plant" a man-eating hydrangea in your virtual "garden." I do however, understand the impulse to do so when I find the requests waiting for me on my home page. I call it the "everybody's doing it" effect. For whatever reason, half my Facebook friends seem to find pleasure in taking compatibility quizzes to find out which Bon Jovi song best describes them and inviting everyone they know to do so too. So I have to wonder, as I click ignore on the fourth request to start a snowball fight, if perhaps I am simply missing out on the fun by doing so.

Rule number two: Never add friends you don't actually intend to communicate with. This I admit is a harder rule to follow, especially when Facebook has made it so easy to add those friends by presenting me with a constantly updating list of people I may know. I have definitely broken this rule on several occasions, succumbing to the call of the "add as a friend" link when I see a familiar face pop up, even though I can't help but wonder what the point is of having a "friend" I never once have even wall-to-walled with, let alone tagged in a photo or joined a pirate army with.