Facebook the social or alienating network?

You walk into your school cafeteria and you so happen to catch a glimpse of that someone who peaks your interest every time your both in the same place. These kind of non verbal meetings between the two of are quite frequent but always end with neither of you saying a word. As you begin to leave the cafeteria you realize that this day is different because just before you exit the cafeteria you over hear the name of your admirer. Now equipped with a name to connect to a face you immediately head to your dorm and log in to your Facebook account. You hit the search button and type in the newly acquired name. After searching through several pages of pictures you find the profile and begin to obtain all the info you've been to afraid to personally find out.

My time on this college campus that the latter scenario has increased in occurrence with the emergence of Facebook. No longer is there the awkward but always beautiful innocence of boy meets girl. This has become the case because with the assistance of Facebook boy "meets" girl before actually meeting the girl, or in some instance become content with "meeting" her but never actually meeting or interacting at all. With that being said Facebook can run the threat of being an alienation tool by depriving people of personal face to face meetings and interactions that we as human beings need. Without those interaction people can be left with the impression that no one is interested in them and thus creating an alienated feeling.

I do believe that socially Facebook does have it positives, because I personally have relocated long lost friends and met people I may not have met through Facebook. I also believe that Facebook also built a since of content in myself and others. I often find myself being asked if I spoke to someone by another person and answering yes because i justified simply responding to a Facebook status as speaking to or contacting a person. In reality such contact doesn't and shouldn't qualify as contact at all in my opinion. There's a certain sense of humanity in seeing and talking to someone or even just talking and hearing someone over the phone. I personally prefer person to person interaction but sometimes fall into the trap of Facebook reliance. Does anyone else find themselves in a similar trap?