By Gwen P. Galeza and Jared Murray
Going through all of your status updates and looking through all of your pictures is not just for crazy relatives anymore. With people’s personal information just a click away, many people take this casual hobby too far, wasting hours on other’s profiles. The idea of getting to know someone without actually talking appeals to this generation’s socially awkward teenage population.
The thought of one’s pictures, statuses and information being readily available to complete strangers does not unnerve as many FC students as one would think.
Many FC students are taking advantage of some of the more lax security settings on the peoples profiles, whether to just waste time or mock.
“When you talk about it at school like you go ‘I saw that on Facebook’ then that’s when it becomes weird,” said junior Stephen Schraffenberger.
Even when students are confronted with the realization of being stalked, some do not bother changing their security settings.
“If I knew the person stalking me I wouldn’t change my settings, but if it was some creepy guy I definitely would,” said senior Holly Cobb.
Despite having various views on Facebook stalking itself, the students interviewed generally agreed on when Facebook stalking becomes too far.
Sophomore Savannah O’Brien said that when they start “liking” all your picures, commenting on a wall post, a status and messaging you that’s when it goes too far.
For those who are frightened by the thought of unfamiliar persons being able to stalk you for their own viewing pleasure, Facebook does offer security options to make you invisible to other Facebook users.
“If I knew someone was stalking [me] I’d probably log off and never get back on again,” said senior Nicollette Westbay.