????Facebook的最終上市對于硅谷而言將是一個重要時刻，它不僅可能是有史以來規(guī)模最大的科技股IPO，而且也是對這家社交網(wǎng)站奇跡般增長的巨大肯定。當初我注冊Facebook時，它還只是一個粗糙的網(wǎng)絡社區(qū)，面向各大院校，我們在這里討論課程、宿舍生活以及偷偷關注在東亞歷史課上大受歡迎的同學。如今，它已成為人們上網(wǎng)的最愛去處，8億活躍用戶（13歲以上）每天會上傳2.5億張照片。

????在美國，平均每位用戶每個月會在Facebook上逗留8個小時；必須承認，我更上癮，可能一周就能達到這個數(shù)字。按我的說法，F(xiàn)acebook已逐步成為了“一種生活方式——這是一條令人興奮的不歸路，這條路我已經(jīng)走了好幾年，路牌就是各種動態(tài)的實時消息推送，我的心情會隨著支持或跟帖人數(shù)的變化而起伏，時而沮喪至谷底，時而又志得意滿。”對很多人來說，F(xiàn)acebook差不多就是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的全部。

????在這個過程中，我習慣了標注“喜歡”，期待朋友們也能這樣做；習慣了在上傳“我的照片”前進行修片，在看到我不上相的照片時則移除標簽。（現(xiàn)在，我大多數(shù)時候也這么干。） 最糟糕的是，我花了大量時間結交“你可能認識的朋友”，建起了多達1,325人的朋友圈和11,370名訂戶。有些人確實是朋友，有些可能只是我在工作中遇到的、一起上過學、約會過或曾經(jīng)希望能約會的人。還有些人可能是《財富》雜志（Fortune）的讀者，當然對于這些人我心存感激。因此，可以說是Facebook喚醒、同時也助長了我內(nèi)心強烈的自戀情結。

????然而幾個月前，我和Facebook的關系觸礁了。我希望隨時登錄Facebook的沖動一度變得如此難以遏制，以至于無論我是在家里、在地鐵上、在辦公室里都在不停地查看Facebook。如果由于某種原因無法登錄，我就會感到很失意。直到有一天，我在健身房做仰臥起坐的間隙都在通過手機更新Facebook消息推送時，我才意識到自己對Facebook中毒已深。等一會兒再看，又會怎樣？當然不會怎樣。但在我坐在仰臥起坐的長凳上抱怨手機信號不好時，你最好別跟我說這話。

????如果出現(xiàn)沖突，我想理由可不只是“健身房怒火”（gym rage）那么簡單。以Facebook當前的架構，如果不能時不時地關注一下這個社交網(wǎng)站上的各種信息，就會感到要落伍了。曾經(jīng)相對簡單的操控界面如今已有點像游戲魔獸世界（World of Warcraft）的繁忙屏幕。消息推送（News Feed）將各種更新分為頭條消息（Top Stories）和最新消息（Recent Stories），我從來也用不上這項功能。而直播欄實時記錄下朋友們的每個舉動。這理論上聽起來很棒，但事實上更多地會分散視覺注意力。

????隱私過去（對我而言）也不是個問題，直到最近。Facebook的魅力一度在于其投射的專屬感，一個封閉的虛擬空間只向一小部分朋友開放，在這里我可以暢所欲言。但現(xiàn)在我每次發(fā)帖，都會親自編輯一下。在某種程度上，家人、同事、職場伙伴以及很多其他人都可以看到我的個人信息和消息更新，因此我只發(fā)布相當友善的信息、圖片以及鏈接，因為它們才適宜面向最廣大的受眾。當然，我也可以創(chuàng)建不同的Facebook朋友群，選擇哪些人能看到或不能看到我的更新，但分組和維護的工作量太大了。

????When Facebook finally goes public it'll be a big moment for Silicon Valley, not only because it may be the biggest tech IPO ever but also because it will validate the social network's staggering growth to date. When I joined, it was a barebones college-only online community where we could talk about courses, dorm life, and stalk that one hot classmate in East Asian History. Now it's the Internet site people spend the most time on, with 800 million active users from ages 13 up uploading 250 milion photos a day.

????In the U.S., the average user spends eight hours a month on Facebook; the self-admitted addict I am likely clocks that much in a week. To quote myself, Facebook eventually became "a way of life -- a heady, nonstop road I've traveled along for years, where street signs are replaced with dynamic real-time news feeds, and my fragile ego can be crushed or swelled with pride depending on the number of people who deign to like or, even better, comment on my posts." Heck, for many Facebook practically is the Internet.

????I used to "Like" statuses hoping friends returned the favor, retouch "Photos of Me" before they went up, untag those that didn't portray me in a petroleum-slathered, soft light. (For the most part, I still do.) Worst of all, I spent hours crawling "Friends You May Know," building up a legion of 1,325 friends and 11,370 subscribers. Some of these people really are friends. Some are people I may have come across at work, gone to school with, dated or wished I'd dated. Others still are likely Fortune readers, to whom I am grateful. So it's safe to say Facebook awakened and armed a narcissistic beast in me.

????Then a few months ago, my relationship with Facebook hit bottom. The compulsion to log on reached a point where I checked Facebook incessantly at home, on the train, and at work. When for some reason I couldn't sign on, I became frustrated. It was only when I found myself refreshing the News Feed on my phone between crunches at the gym that I realized the extent of my addiction. Would it be a big deal if I waited until afterwards to check? Well, of course not. But try telling that to me as I cursed my phone reception atop the sit-up bench.

????I like to think there's a reason for that incident beyond a mild case of "gym rage." The way Facebook is structured now, you feel like if you don't dip your toes into the social network's stream of information for a second here, a minute there, you will miss out. The dashboard, once a study in relative simplicity, vaguely resembles a busy screen from World of Warcraft. The News Feed breaks up updates by Top and Recent Stories, a distinction I've never needed. And the live ticker chronicles the minute moves of friends as they happen, which sounds great in theory, but is more a visual distraction in practice.

????Privacy wasn't an issue (for me) until lately. Facebook's charm once lay in the feeling of exclusivity it projected, a closed off virtual playground open only to a smallish group of friends where I could communicate without second thought. Now when I do so, I edit myself. To some extent, my profile and updates are visible to extended family, colleagues, professional connections, and a large number of others, so I post rather benign messages, images and links aimed at the largest common denominator. Sure, I could create different groups of Facebook friends and select who can and can't see my updates, but organizing and maintaining those groups is too much work.