Photo: Courtesy of Facebook.We have willingly exposed ourselves to a disease, readers. According to two Ph.D. candidates at Princeton's Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Facebook is akin to those things that keep us bedridden and miserable — which, come to think of it, rings oddly true. We check Facebook in bed and depending on what we see, said checks can leave us feeling rather down in the dumps.
Well, lucky for us, the disease doesn't have much life left to live. Princeton researchers have estimated that Facebook will lose nearly 80% of its users by 2017. Ouch. We're hurting about this statistic, though it's not like any of the younger users care.
The study, available here, tracked the history of MySpace using the same technology used to analyze an infectious disease's trajectory. Though Facebook has the power of hindsight on their side, the Princeton researchers concluded that it will follow the same fate as its predecessor and fellow sicknesses. Essentially, what's going to happen is users will get bored, and a snowball effect of other users becoming bored with the site will begin to pick up speed before status updates and "likes" are a thing of the digital past.
What happens after, though? We might actually have to learn how to, you know, communicate in person. Heck, we might as well stock up on blank, hand-stamped cards for party invites since "events" might become obsolete, too. But, what of relationship statuses? How is one to know if you're indeed, "in a relationship" or things are just "complicated?" Time to start brushing up on those person-to-person relationship skills. That, or the reality of Her will come true. (Fast.Co)
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