XplanaZine

Human contact. Something every human yearns for — especially teenagers. Every free scrap of time morphs into time to jump in the car and drive to a friend’s house or a hang–out spot like a snow cone stand (my friends knew the exact day and time the local snow cone stands opened this spring). But, sometimes teenagers just can’t get out. Parents generally put time limits on our outings and there are plenty of times when you only have when you only have twenty minutes between events in your day, which leaves no time to hang out. Even worse, if you’re like me you could actually get grounded for a whole weekend. Thankfully, with Xanga, when you can’t be with your friends physically, you can at least browse their thoughts online as well share your own ideas.

Xanga is an online blogging site that now also allows you to accumulate a social network. With it, you can keep track of your friends’ lives by reading their latest posts, and get connected to people you haven’t spoken to in years (as long as they have a Xanga too). It’s a great way to keep updated on people’s lives and to share your own ordeals when you’re stuck at home with nothing to do. I first created a Xanga as an underclassman. I had no car and no cell phone so I resorted to the Internet as a way to stay connected with my friends.

I prefer Xanga to Myspace because it’s more personal. If people don’t know you, or don’t know someone else who knows you, then its really hard for someone to randomly happen across your site. Xanga mainly serves to connect you with an already established base of friends. Sure the friend base can be expanded as you get to know more individuals, but it’s nice to be semi–anonymous to the rest of the Xanga community.

The main attraction of Xanga for me and my friends is the ability to write and post your own thoughts and ideas, quotes and passages from books, or even pictures. You also get to read your friends’ posts, and comment on them. Xanga certainly helps us understand each other better — you learn to see people differently when you really understand where they are coming from and how they think.

Xanga is also an amazing resource for keeping in touch with friends. My friend Marisa and I stayed in contact through Xanga while she went to study in Hungary for several months. I also use it to keep track of all my former high school friends who are now in college. Between their tests and homework it’s nearly impossible to schedule a few hours of time with them, let alone spend hours on the phone sharing the infinite details of their lives.

Interaction with friends is necessary for friendships to continue, and Xanga is a great way to make that interaction happen. It works if you’re separated by continents, or simply stuck inside because of weather or punishment. I think it probably seems like time wasted to parents, but a good deal of the time teenagers spend on Xanga should be considered social interaction. While that may not seem like a huge thing to some parents, but believe me, it is.