A Midsummer Night’s Dream – by Vlad Maria, 15 years old, CN Gheorghe Lazar Sibiu
Oberon and Titania, Hermia, Helena, Lysander and Demetrius, do these names sound familiar to you? Sending letters to your lover, because your father forbids you to see him, eloping…have you ever done that?
We should try again! Are Facebook, hi5, MySpace, Twitter familiar enough? Have you ever got a comment or left one, uploaded a photo, played an online game or experienced a virtual relationship?
It is like a Midsummer Night’s Dream, except that nowadays we replace the gods with social networks, we don’t have to pray anymore to Hermes to send our ‘messages’, we substitute letters and shy love notes with comments and exchange of messenger IDs and pure love has become virtual love.
I just saw a body of children in the street, all dirty and noisy, but they seemed to be very happy playing the same old ‘mom and dad’ game, trying to look like adults, to figure out how the ‘life cycle’ goes on. But wait, this is just the picture I am holding in my hands. Nowadays children try to act like grown ups in the virtual environment, no more ‘mom and dad’ games in the street.
I am not saying that social networkings like Facebook ruin our lives, but they surely do change it. It’s much easier (and different) to add your primary school fellow or the people you had known since kindergarten as friends on Facebook for instance, than trying to contact them and meet face to face.
Facebook claims 59 million active users, and 2 new million users who sign up weekly. See, 2 new million friends for you, lots of possibilities to find your love somewhere on Earth or just acquire a new ‘best friend’. So why shouldn’t we create an account?
Well, it is an illusion, virtual life is just a stage, men and women merely players. That’s why we should leave our computers to dance with the dust, we should grab a bicycle, a picnic basket, our friends and go somewhere to the seaside, mountain or just in a park. That is reality, unless you have only virtual friends.
Acest eseu este castigatorului unui bonus special in cadrul 2010 Shakespeare School Essay Competition, grupa de varsta 15-19 ani, avand ca tema “Discuss the role and future of social networking sites hi5 and Facebook“. Premiul a constat intr-un discount de 10% la orice curs intensiv de vara de limba engleza la Shakespeare School, precum si in carti si alte cadouri de la Diverta si Fischer International. Dorim sa o felicitam pe Maria pentru faptul ca s-a evidentiat din peste 3100 de eseuri trimise la concursul national de creatie in limba engleza organizat de Shakespeare School si ii uram mult succes in continuare!
