However, a couple of weeks ago I was presented with a problem when the advisor of my sorority came to me with pictures of me and my fellow sisters drinking in the house. While it is pretty easy to deny that you break the rules, it is hard to do so when you are presented with a picture of yourself mid-Smirnoff shot in your own room.

Though none of the pictures came from my own albums, I still found myself staring at my own face. These were pictures that were DE-TAGGED. Pictures that I had known were inappropriate, and had clicked the little button next to my name, the one that makes everything bad go away. I suppose when we all look at the pictures tagged of us and don’t see one, we forget that, despite not having our name, it still exists. Albums from August with pictures that I had forgotten existed were shown to me. While my first thought was, “Wow, this person needs a life if she is stalking pictures of me from 6 months ago,” my second one was “Well. This isn’t pretty.”

To steal one of the most worthwhile things my father has ever said to me, it wasn’t that our parents didn’t do stupid or illegal things when they were younger. They just never had to worry that within 24 hours, this illegal activity would be popping up on mini-feeds all over the country. While my experience with adults and Facebook has luckily left me with minimal scars, this was my first warning to how technology-savvy bosses can check in on their future employers. My advisor used a girl in my house to spy on us. Large companies have greater access, more resources, and more reasons to background check their employees’ backgrounds. Would you really want someone who advertises pictures of themselves passed out drunk or in a cloud of smoke in your law firm every day?

So here is the warning: Delete Delete Delete. Do not de-tag. And if you are like me and still want everyone to be able to see your pictures, discover snapfish.com. You can e-mail your friends and family your albums and, since it is a website, you are safe in case your computer ever crashes and you lose everything. While I love the ease and access Facebook allows, having my friends view pictures of us holding vodka in one hand and rum in the other aren’t worth me being punished again.

[Photo courtesy of Asurroca on Flickr.]

How many times have you said to yourself, “Facebook is so taking over my life!” Between endless wall-posting, scrolling through thousands of pictures of you and your friends, checking up on people you haven’t talked to in years, and the joy of poking, Facebook never gets old.  And yeah, you know that there are probably a few pictures on the ol’ Facebook that aren’t all that flattering, if you catch my drift. But luckily Facebook exists entirely within the virtual reality of the Internet. Once you leave your computer or put down your BlackBerry, you are blissfully free to live your real life. All the silly, frivolous fun of Facebook is available at your disposal, and you can come and go as you please into that thrilling digital realm.

But what if you couldn’t step away from the Facebook culture? This clip from the BBC shows what your world  would be like if Facebook really did take over your life…and the universe.