Everyone is doing it-in class, in the library, on laptops-and it’s ubiquitous on campus. You know what I am talking about: Facebook.

Earlier this year, I finally joined millions worldwide; I finally conformed to the norm and made my Facebook account.

Recently, I glanced at my mini-feed from the day I started my Facebook adventure, and I felt awkward. Whenever you befriend someone and the person accepts your request, the screen will read, “Samiksha and ‘insert friend’s name’ are now friends.” Next to that is a little person’s head,with an addition symbol indicating one more friend collected.

I came to the following conclusion: Facebook promotes a hollow definition of friendship. This argument is based in the very semantics of Facebook, for even the process of connecting with someone on the site is hollow.

The vocabulary fails to give substance to actual, existing relationships. When I got my Facebook account, I officially friended people I knew for more than 10 years. Yet, Facebook told me that we were just “now” friends. What were we before-strangers? The use of the word “now” is shallow; just because you become friends with someone on Facebook does not mean that you only became friends with the person as Facebook’s developers announced it.

And then, there is a “friend counter.” Why is it necessary to quantify the number of friends each of us has? Friendship should be qualitative. Because of this emphasis on number, people subconsciously think about the number of friends they have displayed, instead of the depths of those friendships.

There are many people who have Facebook “friends” whom they have never met, or never even talked to. These users add faux friends, just to increase their number, making a “social” statement and creating the illusion that they are really the popular person they want to be perceived as. These hollow actions and perceptions of friendship, encouraged by Facebook, are hindering society by encouraging fragile relationships.

I have a better idea about what we, as students, could do. We can just take a break.

It’s that simple: Just take a break from Facebook. It is not necessary to check your account every time you sit at the computer. It is OK to simply talk to people-and by that, I mean in person, not through wall posts. It seems antiquated, and it takes longer than 30 seconds, but it builds real relationships.

As the advancements in our society keep getting faster, we must re-evaluate how we define relationships, the most basic of things.

Samiksha Tarun is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences.