Addiction

Facebook claims to be a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. Nowadays, heaps of those social networking platforms exist on the web, but Facebook is starting to get me really addicted. Initially I was quite reluctant to join yet another networking website, I was on Hyves already and it was sufficient for me. However, I succumbed to the international peer pressure as everyone that I knew seemed to be on it. And with me, a few others as well. So now there's Hyves for the Dutchies and Facebook for the non-Dutchies.

I don't want to glorify the excellence of it, it's a fun thing to do but at the same time makes you very unproductive if you're doing it at work. Now my morning starts with coffee, Gmail and Facebook. Bad I know.

One of the coolest applications (I believe they're called widgets) that they have is the Traveller IQ Challenge.

You can test and improve your knowledge on the countries of the world, the regions or even countries' flags. You can also challenge your friends to beat your score and the IQ ranks will be displayed according to those scores. Now, it so happens to I have a very gung ho boyfriend. He calls himself competitive, I call it a disguised OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). He can't stand the fact that his rank is lower than mine and therefore has to beat me at all costs - abandoning work duties and sweating like a madman. I could almost see the veins on his forehead throbbing from the stress.

So after multiple attempts - I'm sure - he finally managed to kick everyone out of the way and put himself on top of the list, having succeeded in getting the highest rank of all our friends. And I can tell you, the man is as proud as a peacock searching out a mate.

Me, I'm cool with it. If he's happy, I'm happy. But the next time I play this game again and beat his score, I won't tell him. Otherwise he'd be sacrificing his entire working day again trying to be the better of the two. His boss won't be too happy I guess, so I'd say I do this for the greater good. :)