Day 64--- The Solo Facebook Photographer...

Facebook photographer syndrome is a common disease among our youth these days. If we don't help these troubled children when they first start its almost always too hard to reverse the path.

It starts one day when you realize your profile picture is a bit outdated. You've since gotten a new haircut, new wardrobe, new tattoo, or any number of things that you think that everyone should see. You don't want to have a full fledged paid photo shoot that would involve another person. So you innocently decide to set up a tripod in your room along with the camera your parents just bought. You figure out the timer situation, test the angles, and start coordinating the wardrobe. Before you know it you have filled up the whole memory card with hundreds of embarrassing shots of yourself in every pose, outfit, and camera setting you can work. The sad part is, after all this work you don't realize how embarrassing and not flattering the photos actually are. You think you look great, but you are delusional, you've just spent hours paparazzi-ing yourself and you feel the need to share it with the world. No longer was this outing just for one photo. No, no, no this outing now represents your first Facebook album, and the beginning of your sickness.

Since that day, you've convinced yourself of all sorts of fallacies. For instance, you are not actually a photographer. Just because you have figured out the brilliance of the sephia button does not mean your photos are presentable to the E-world. Also, you are not attractive, just because black and white manages to flush out most blemishes we can still see your face, which is your main problem.

Understand this is only the beginning, once this virus takes hold, the camera is with these people 24-7 . Within weeks there will be a whole album dedicated to shots taken in the mirror, shortly after that we have the outstretched arm album (commonly referred to as the Myspace angle). Then there will undoubtedly be photos with the family pet, thousands of them, which I do not need to remind you that no one cares about your pet as much as you do. Once they get a little more comfortable they will move into the swim-wear portion of photos, fueled by positive or negative comments, this can prove to be quite dangerous. Its a sickness.

Truthfully this post is more of a warning than anything else. Parents, if your children are locking themselves in their room with make-up and a digital camera its time to take charge because I assure you this is only the beginning. I've lost some good friends of mine to Facebook whoredom and its not a pretty sight, no person should spend more time on personal photos than they do with actual people. Not only is it wrong and strange but it pretty much guarantees an emo future. Lord knows none of you want to have emo children. So heed my warning and buy your teens PS3's and Ipods, and stay away from fueling the fire with a digital camera.