A woman sits in the back row in a lecture hall, her iPod playing her favorite album, her laptop balanced on top of the tiny desk. Between typing portions of the notes displayed on the screen, she text-messages her boyfriend, checks her e-mail and writes on her roommate's Facebook wall.

People are relying more and more on technology to connect themselves to the world, but at the same time they are becoming less likely to take the time to talk to each other face-to-face, said Michael Bugeja, director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication and author of "Interpersonal Divide: The Search for Community in a Technological Age."

"We have decided that when we're in our cars that that's routine and we should use our cell phones, and we've decided that when there is this lull we can get on Facebook or listen to our iPods," he said. "And the fact of the matter is that life requires our attention."

College students constantly being "wired" - connected to various forms of technology - has an effect in their behavior, said Barbara Mack, attorney and ISU associate professor of journalism and communication.

"They have an impatience that I think is reflected in their behavior in that [if] they can't have a cell phone answered or an e-mail answered immediately, it makes them frantic," Mack said.

allows users to join high school and college networks, as well as business networks. Facebook officials said they plan to add regional networks at some point in the near future.

Instead of just using the site to get in touch with friends or find a time to get together, as the site was originally designed for, Facebook has grown into a place for users to meet new people, express their political beliefs and even blog.

"Now instead of being about meeting people in interpersonal space, which is what Facebook originally tried to do - tried to be a catalyst for - now you're talking about what you're doing on Facebook instead of what you're doing on a residential campus," Bugeja said.

"Facebook is a really good tool for understanding what's going on with your friends and the people around you. Everyone needs to know what's going on around them," said Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in an online press conference. "It's a pretty core human need, and Facebook helps out with that."

"One important thing to keep in mind is that needing to understand what's going on around you isn't a college-specific thing," he said. "That's why we have a lot of high school students and alums on the site, and why we're continually expanding."

However, users need to find a "healthy balance" between communicating via Facebook and face-to-face communication, said Marty Martinez, staff psychologist for Student Counseling Services.

The way friendship is defined is changing because of online social networks - users often define their Facebook "friends" as anyone from a casual acquaintance or classmate to someone they spend a significant amount of time with.

"To be a friend in college is a significant investment of time and energy and concern. It's an effort of the conscious, and it takes dedication and time. It takes listening skills, great interpersonal skills; it takes the ability to plan outings to do things together to coordinate that effort. You can't coordinate that effort with 500 friends," Bugeja said.

The redefinition of friendship - along with users trying to keep in touch with their Facebook friends - can actually keep people from developing true, significant relationships with others, Bugeja said.

"Those relationships often end up in marriage, often end up in partnerships - business partnerships, romantic partnerships - or lifelong friendships," he said.

The push to become friends with so many people has some criticizing that Facebook is becoming more like MySpace, the most popular Web site in the United States.

Facebook co-founder and spokesperson Chris Hughes disagreed, saying Facebook's emphasis is to be a "social utility" for existing social networks.

"Students should see the Facebook as one piece of the pie. It's a neat way to interact with people … but [users should tell themselves] instead of just Facebooking people, I'll go interact with them," he said.

If a users notice they are spending too much time on Facebook, setting a limit on how much time to spend on the site can be helpful. If sticking to the limit becomes difficult, users should acknowledge their weakness and find an objective person to talk to about their addiction, such as a friend or family member, Martinez said. If that doesn't help, Martinez suggested talking to a hall director or a counselor.

Bugeja said he had been concerned about "the addictive factor of Facebook" until he paid a visit to a journalism orientation course to discuss professionalism in the workplace a few weeks ago. After lecturing the class for about 15 minutes about several things, including not using Facebook while at a job or internship, Bugeja said he had a "Napoleon Dynamite" moment.

"I turned to leave, and I have no other reference point for you but one out of popular culture, if anyone had seen the movie 'Napoleon Dynamite' - after he left the stage after that dance and there was that lull and a burst of applause … that happened to me," he said. "It became apparent to me that there was a generational shift occurring - and I got some e-mails after that class that students needed to hear to shut off their iPods and quit accessing Facebook and to look around them.

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