My online history from Myspace to Facebook

Taken from the archives, this photo is a perfect example of what my former profile pictures would resemble. (Courtesy photo)

It all started my junior year in high school, one word where two should be: Myspace. Myspace began my education of the vast world known as social media.

One of the first tasks when creating a profile on Myspace was to upload a profile picture, which took more effort than it does today -- you had to find someone with a digital camera and pose in a manner which reflected your personality.

My Myspace profile pictures hinged on three basic principles:

* Don't look directly at the camera.

* Carry yourself in an apathetic/despondent manner (This is to let your audience know you do not care whether they add you as friend or not, because you are too cool to care).

* Wear the clothes which reflect your interest, and for me at the time, have your hair hang over your eyes in order to obscure the viewer to see the "real" you.

Admittedly, these concepts are extremely adolescent, but at the time, Myspace reflected the adolescence of social media.

Two years later, I entered college where I discovered this new service known as "The Facebook." For those unaware, Facebook, in its infancy, had a definite article preceding the proper noun. The actual facebook.com domain was not purchased until later in 2005 for the absurd amount of $200,000.

One of the great benefits of creating a profile on Facebook, was at the time, the service was exclusively for college students. Facebook held the edge over Myspace by allowing their users to upload as many pictures as possible. The result manifested in an endless parade of images of students at parties, at games or hanging out. Much like today, your profile exhibited only a certain, albeit short-sighted, perspective of your life.

In college, Facebook users took solidarity in the fact their friends would not use these pictures for any maleficent gain, because there was code: a guilty solidarity.

It was not until midway through 2006 when Facebook expanded to include all users over the age of 13, otherwise known as the time when many users received that awkward friend request from their parents.

Myspace slowly faded into the obscurity, and Facebook has since been the main social media outlet. It was announced during the second quarter of 2015 Facebook has 1.49 billion active users. According to the statistic gathered by statista.com, active users are, "those which have logged in to Facebook during the last 30 days."

One afternoon in 2011, I decided I have had it: I was over social media and I was going to purge every service.

This decision was developed from the idea I spent far too much time of my day checking my profile. I have also seen enough food pictures and cat videos to last a lifetime.

My resistance only lasted for three years, between 2011 to 2014.

One of the main reasons I decided to return was actually due to societal pressure.

Today, most people have Facebook. It has become a social requirement, and if someone between the ages of 18 to 35 does not have Facebook, they are often met with accusatory glances.

The other day I was scrolling through my phone and I counted five social media services I subscribe to: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and Google+.

Now, social media is integrated into my everyday life -- from work, to the podcast I'm co-hosting, news, and communication and story leads, Facebook is my one-stop location for better or worse.

So here is to the cat videos and pictures of food, to everyone's stratifying political views and to every witty comment ever made on a post -- I'll be seeing you soon.

Grant is a staff writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 19. He can also be reached via email at gkarazsia@gmail.com.