It’s so temping to share with the world Facebook how miffed you were when your roommate stumbled in at 3 a.m. on a Tuesday night with some rando. Your girlfriends at home would def feel your pain, and you know they’d leave a few snarky comments on you wall to help ease the severe mental damage you sustained from being woken up at such an ungodly hour. Like I said, tempting option. But is it your best option? See what Marysa’s got to say below! Read More »

There are a lot of complicated things in life – like trying to figure out what’s going on in the Middle East, or why Charlie Sheen is still famous, or what outfit to wear this Friday night. But your Facebook relationship status should not be one of them.

Lesson 12:  “It’s Complicated” but we don’t need to know that.

There are so many things wrong with the “It’s Complicated” status that sometimes I wonder if Facebook just threw it up on the profile settings just for kicks and giggles. Maybe this so-called relationship status comes with the territory of our generation’s tendency to overshare on social media sites, but this is almost as bad as your sister posting a home video of giving birth to her firstborn on Facebook and tagging it, “a miracle.”

Why would you feel the need to tell the world that you are basically incapable of having a real relationship? And if you are capable of having a real relationship, this status says you blatantly prefer the drama of an “It’s Complicated” situation more. Because really, if it’s that complicated, you probably shouldn’t be with the person.

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I love the first week back after Thanksgiving break.

No scratch that, I hate it, actually. But what I do like is what that week represents. It’s the beginning of the end. The start of the finish. You’re over the hump. The semester is almost over. You’ve finally reached those last few dreadful weeks. And okay, maybe that doesn’t seem like something to be happy about, maybe you want to pull your hair out right now? Maybe you’re stressed? Sure, but just think, in a couple of weeks it will all be over.

How can you be sure that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel? Here are just a few signs that the semester is almost over.

10. You’ll do anything to avoid your homework. Okay. Time to get serious. You have a lot to get done these less few weeks. Time to buckle down and start working. No distractions. No Facebook. No phones. Reading time. But wait…you have been meaning to reorganize your desk. And your bookshelf. And…you get the idea.

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When did Facebook turn into my verbally-abusive ex-boyfriend?

He’s full of empty promises and is always “I really care about your privacy and I’m not going to show the whole world that photo of you doing naked Olympics.” Then he turns around the next day and broadcasts everything to the world with a “seriously, you’ll end up liking the fact that everyone, including your mother, knows exactly what you did this weekend. And if you don’t, then go back to that dirty heathen of a boyfriend, Myspace, and see if I care.”

And now he’s done it again. He’s introduced a Foursquare for Facebook, called Facebook Places, that takes everyone’s favorite stalker application to the next level. Not only will your friends, frenemy’s, second cousins, and co-workers be able to check into locations, but they’ll also be able to check you into locations. Apparently they’re claiming that it’s just like tagging someone in a photo because it has a detag option. Except tagging an ugly photo of me on Facebook in not equivalent to telling the Facebook community that I’m in the third stall at the Olive Garden on Grove street.

Change your privacy settings today or prepare to see your entire life ruined. Think I’m exaggerating? Just look at my Wikipedia-approved reasoning:

1. No More Lying – So you wanted to get out of your friend’s birthday dinner (because she always insists on wearing a tiara and “kiss me, it’s my birthday sash”) and made up a story about having to cram for a hugeeee test the next day. Instead you go out with some other friends to happy hour where they tag you as being at the bar. Add some photo proof to that tag and you’re about to be defriended…in real life. And that’s the least of your issues. How about the fact that you got out of your boyfriend’s great aunt’s funeral by telling a small white lie that you were really, really sick — only to be location-tagged as being at the school’s biggest tailgate party ever.

2. No More Privacy – Facebook stalking is a totally healthy part of life, real life stalking is a total calling card to spend some time in prison. The two are about to overlap pretty quickly when your stalker starts literally following you from class (because your lab partner tagged you) to the library (because your freshman your roommate spotted you across the stacks and tagged you) to Starbucks (because somehow the barista and you are Facebook friends and she’s trying real hard to be web-savvy). Read More »

Back in the day (when I still had a MySpace account) Facebook was a brand new platform for social opportunity and getting to know people in college.  I remember the days when my status was restricted by the word “is” and I only had 50 pictures tagged of myself at graduation parties and I thought I was super rad. Suddenly, My Space turned into the Britney Spears white trash of all social networks and I was spending the majority of my time on the blue and white pages of Facebook.

And like any social practice, social etiquette has hereby ensued.  There are things on Facebook you just can’t do, either because they are annoying as sh*t or they can put you in danger.

I’m serious. If you want to save your plasma TV and your online reputation, read on.

1. List Details of Where You’re Going  & When

Take this couple. The girl left a Facebook status saying was going out to a concert with her boyfriend, and her friend (since she was seven) busted into their house and stole their flat-screen TV right off their wall.  Nice guy. La Lohan and Paris Hilton (amongst other D-list celebs) had similar experiences when they compulsively updated their Twitter status letting the world (or that annoying girl from that stupid show on E!) know when their homes were free for thievery. It’s time to stop giving everyone an itinerary of your life and live a little more mysteriously. Read More »

You know what’s cool? Pit stains. Or not. But thanks to the summer sun, I’ve got ‘em and I have a feeling they’ll be sticking around until September. That oughta be good for my social life.

What else is going on? You mean besides sweat-induced breakouts, funky tan burn lines, and 24/7 cravings for popsicles? Yeah, not much. Thank god all those ass-hats in Hollywood are keeping it real, otherwise I’d have nothing to do with myself while I spend my days huddled up on the air conditioning vent in my bedroom. Speaking of bedrooms, have you entered the CollegeCandy contest to win a total bedroom makeover?!

Perhaps reflecting on the week that was will cool things down a bit.

- Mel Gibson has officially gone off the deep end and taken on the title of Douchebag of the Century.

- Could you be one of these people? Here are six friends you’ll never see over summer break

- Kate and Jon didn’t work out, neither did Jake and Vienna. But what about Kate…and Jake? Maybe these new matchups will last in Hollywood.

- Wanna have sex? Forget about it. Let’s watch porn instead. Read about the new phenomenon about porn replacing sex.

- Short hair in, long hair out. Read about one CC writer’s obsession with short hair. (And rightfully so, look at Audrey Hepburn!)

- While you’re lounging poolside soaking up the sun, one post-grad is slaving away to prepare for the LSATs. Who do you think is having more fun? Hint: you.

- Emma Watson: smart, sucessful and the face of Burberry. Read why everyone here at CollegeCandy loves her style.

- Tired of working out every time you go out to eat? Eat these healthy foods and rock that hot summer bod.

- Guys are complicated. Wait, no they’re not.

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. This month we're following Christie on her quest to stop gossiping. The first few days were rough. Let's see how she's holding up sans gossip now.]

And so ends my first full week of no gossip…. and it was pretty tough.  I would go to tell my family, friends, or boyfriend something and before I even opened my mouth I would have to ask myself if it was gossip. A lot of times, it would be, so I would have to stop, come up with another topic and start over. Naturally, it created an abnormal and totally awkward pause, but overall the people I spoke to were very supportive.

At the beginning of the week, it was refreshing having this challenge, because it felt good to talk about someone positively when others were talking about them negatively. When my boyfriend was venting to me because he was frustrated, for example, I immediately tried to look at things from the other person’s perspective. It wasn’t reprimanding; it was just being rational. Rather than being upset, my boyfriend thanked me, and told me that he understood the situation better after me being positive about the person he was talking about.

So, yeah, things were going pretty good.
For awhile…

Then at the end of the week, I started making excuses for myself. “That isn’t gossip,” I would say. “That’s just something they posted on Facebook.” It wasn’t right, I’ll admit, but I did it nonetheless. And seriously, Facebook is like a gossip machine. I mean, come on, how many of us talk about things that come up on our feed? Like a gag-worthy status or a really mean wall post? It’s nearly impossible to hop on Facebook and not gossip. Lesson learned. Read More »

We’re all well aware of the friends every girl needs, but what about the friends nobody wants? Is there anything more annoying than having to avoid a friend that you hate? It’s like, “stop calling me every day and messaging me on Facebook all the time and showing up in my bedroom when I’m sleeping.”

No matter how mean you are or how many times you send out restraining orders, these are the friends that keep clawing their way back into our lives. Read More »

Facebook is the hallmark of our generation. It’s usually a good way to see what your friends (or acquaintances, or enemies…) are up to and a good way to kill some time. But the more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that this social networking tool is actually ruining our lives and dramatically changing the way we stalk communicate…for the worse. Here’s 5 very crucial parts of our lives that Facebook is slowly destroying…

1. Dating
After you make out with a guy, do you friend request him? If so, how long do you wait? What about that cute boy in your lecture? Will he think it’s weird that you know his last name? Do you write on his wall? If he doesn’t write back, is he not interested? OMG, he “likes” your status, what does that mean!?  With all this virtual interpretation, there’s hardly time for a real date (or more realistically, a real romp-in-the-hay).

2. Your GPA
I know I’m not the only one that spends more time Facebook creeping in the library than actually studying, and term papers take much longer when you’re logging in to check your News Feed after every paragraph. Especially when that News Feed says “(insert ex’s name here) is in a relationship.” Cue mental breakdown and tears. In the library. Do you see where I’m going with this? Read More »

BREAKING NEWS. A study done at The University of Maryland shows that students are addicted to social media.

….Wait a second, we needed a study to prove this??

It is no secret that social media outlets run our lives.  Whether it Facebook, Twitter, or the variations trying to prove their worth (what up, MySpace?), we are constantly connected.  Even on the go, we can count on our trusty iPhones and Blackberrys to bring these outlets to us.

But back to the study. The participants were forced to go one entire day without media of any kind and then blog their feelings when the 24-hour period was up. (Seems a little counter-intuitive, no?) Those who made it through (not surprisingly, some did not) reported that although surrounded by people, they felt completely isolated.

“Texting and IM-ing my friends gives me a constant feeling of comfort,” wrote one student. “When I did not have those two luxuries, I felt quite alone and secluded from my life. Although I go to a school with thousands of students, the fact that I was not able to communicate with anyone via technology was almost unbearable.”

At first glance, that student seems rather pathetic. But think about it: most of us can easily relate to the feeling. Whenever something happens, many of us instantly turn to Facebook or Twitter to share it. That’s why sites like that, and others like TFLN, exist. We are constantly sharing with others and every time a new outlet pops us that allows us to do so, we hop on board. It’s gotten to the point that if some worthy (or even unworthy) news event is not on Facebook, it is as if it never happened. Read More »