Picking on the Intern

Maybe I am asking too much, or maybe I should just relax. Actually, I know I should just relax. But I found another column by that CNet intern that drives me a little crazy. This one is all about dating advice in the land of Facebook. She makes some decent points, like "Don't post makeout pictures on MySpace," so it's worth the read despite the fact that she also states to not judge a person by their MySpace page and then proceeds to make a strong judgment about boys who post pictures "where he's flexing his abs while simultaneously doing a thumbs up" (Advice: "Stay. Away."). Ah, teenagers.

Here's her situation: She's at a party, where she sees a gorgeous hunk with dreamy eyes. She admires him from afar. I can totally relate to this -- I think this happened to me every other day in high school and college. Then, she goes home and looks up Mr. Dreamy Eyes on Facebook by hunting down his profile through mutual friends. I can still sort of relate. I remember trying to casually ask mutual friends about that random dude while not really cluing in on the fact that I thought he was sexy as hell. I am sure I fooled no one (but I thought I was clever). Finally, after "a series of flirty messages, followed by some text messages and one phone call," she and Dreamy Eyes agree to go out. My parallel? Those random "I just happened to pass your dorm room (or locker) and you were there" chats leading to something else. It's the same, just a little different. The modern 2.0 version is somewhat more removed, but the steps are pretty similar.

While it's cool that she sets up the scenario of how meeting someone through the internet and then dating IRL might work, her hypocrisy is all-too apparent. While she herself admits to making initial contact online, she makes her first rule of teen dating in the digital age "When possible, strike up an in-person conversation before cyberstalking." Oops. Maybe this paradox is the result of an overbearing editor? Or maybe she is just a typical adolescent who wants everyone to do as she says, and not as she does. Who knows, but it set me off a bit for some bizarre reason.

At least I'm not the only one who calls her on it. Her first comment reads: " WAIT, SO YOU WANT GUYS TO NOT DO WHAT YOU DID? IM CONFUSED. IF MR. RIGHT WAS THERE AT THE PARTY, WHY DIDN'T YOU TRY TO SPARK CONVERSATION WITH HIM INSTEAD OF RUNNING TO THE COMPUTER?"

Couldn't have said it better myself.