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One of the greatest dilemmas of social interaction is staring me in the face. Someone I don’t even remember is waiting for me to decide whether I will confirm our friendship with a quick click.

This is what my friendships have sunk to since they were swallowed up in the social muck that is Thefacebook.com, an online community that helps college students connect.

And this problem is literally staring me in the face – the person’s picture is on the computer screen looking blankly out at me, expecting a consummation of our union.

What’s next?

Perhaps friends will soon have to write vows and draw up a fair prenuptial before they can safely hang out.

Maybe that’s why it’s so popular. In fact, I think the wildfire-like spread of Thefacebook.com, both at UCLA and colleges across the country, may be caused by our insecurities. We all know how good it feels when our self-worth is set by a risk-free invitation to friendship. And this service seems to know what we’ve been looking for.

In this online, college-crowd-centered community, users enter all sorts of personal information, then collect friends like Star Wars cards.

After reconnecting with long-lost friends they never really had, users have many glamorous options. They can message other users without even bothering to boot up their vocal chords. They can view a pretty and self-esteem-boosting visualization of their friends. They can even “poke”.

I’m not entirely sure what poking is for, and neither are the creators. I suppose it could become anything from a friendly “hi” to a blatantly sexual catcall.

All of it inane, certainly, but also addicting. And pleasantly mollifying. Strange – sounds like the ’60s.

Maybe that’s why it’s so popular. It’s easy, it’s thoughtless, and it makes us feel validated.

We used to have no idea how loved we were. But now we do. The day is that much brighter to know you have 23 friends.

Going online is just so much easier for us than meeting people outside of cyberworld, and college students are very good at being lazy. We no longer have to leave our rooms to feel connected. We no longer have to work for our friends. But are friends real if they don’t require any work or emotion on the part of either party?

People are hopping onto Thefacebook.com bandwagon like their social lives depended on it. At Harvard, where this addiction was born, this may indeed be true. Just one month after it began on Feb. 6, over 85 percent of their undergraduates were hooked on it, according to the Stanford Daily.

In a few short months, Thefacebook.com has spread to blanket more than 30 schools, including New York University, MIT, Stanford, Yale and UC Berkeley, just to name a few.

For our part here at UCLA, only slightly more humble than Harvard, we boast just under 3,000 students involved in this so-called book of faces. That’s 3,000 people – about as many people who voted for our next USAC president.

And this number is growing. Soon we may regress into a cave-dwelling community, unused to daylight or even speaking in person to our roommates.

Text will become the universal language. Poking will take on a whole world of meaning.

Is this a step forward? No, not excepting one or two nerds who are too far gone anyway.

We need to remember that the old adage “everything in moderation” applies especially well to dangerous addictions. Sometimes it’s gratifying to sit at the computer and tend your garden of friends, but sometimes it’s important to go out and water the plants face-to-face.

Thefacebook.com should be seen as its creator intended. It’s supposed to be a supplement to real human interaction, not a substitute for it.

Maybe meet a few people online. Maybe reconnect with a few old friends. Maybe even search for a kindred soul who enjoys the same cult movies you do. But for the sake of social survival, please meet these people in person.

Most of us live within three blocks of one another – it’s not that hard to meet.

So step away from the computer. Greet the sunshine. Meet some of your favorite characters from your Star Wars cards.

Jeff Schenck is a first-year undeclared student. E-mail him at jschenck@media.ucla.edu if you are addicted to friends. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.