A five-day Facebook fast.
That's the challenge a Coquitlam high school computer teacher has put to his students.
The goal: Nothing less than to "promote real connections for a better future."
But on Monday, when Jon Hamlin instructed his Grade 11/12 Pinetree secondary students to log off their Facebook pages until Saturday, reactions among the students ranged from apathy to panic to quiet contemplation.
It meant no wall posts. No status updates. No comments. No creeping. No chats - neither in class nor at home.
It was a tall order for these 35 kids, every one of whom uses the social networking site.
Henry Han, who described himself as an infrequent Facebook user, even reconfigured his home router and altered his network settings to block "accidental" Facebook-use to ensure a successful detox.
"It's been painful. I don't know what's going on outside" classmate Kevin Huang said Wednesday, entering his third full day Facebook-free. He had been coping with the loss of his online identity by talking with friends on the phone and even meeting with people face-to-face, but he couldn't wait to get back to the 'book.
"You can express your feelings better by posting, I think," Huang said. "It's easier for me."
That's precisely the issue that Hamlin is trying to address.
He's not anti-Facebook. In fact, he's one of the few teachers at Pinetree who, before this week, allowed his students to use the site during class time. He just wants his students to think about what's lost and what's changed when friendship and communication are all conducted through a corporate website.
"I first started using Facebook when I was living overseas," Hamlin said, admitting to now using the site three or four times a week. "But I find it promotes this kind passive participation in friendship.
"Like, I could tell you what all of my friends are doing right now. I know my buddy's just gone to Mexico last week but I haven't spoke to him for six months. So it decreases the need or desire to keep in touch with people in a weird kind of way because you can just passively observe what's happening."
And while some of the Pinetree students had already admitted to falling off the wagon and sneaking a peek at their profiles by Wednesday, mostly, the kids were all right.
"It's been easier than I thought," said Yubin Oh, who has had to deal with the added temptation of getting constant alerts on her phone to check her Facebook anytime one of her friends writes on her wall, changes their profile picture or "pokes" her.
"I have a lot more time for doing homework and taking naps and stuff," she said, "but I still always feel the urge to update my status to tell people where I am."
Still, it's not as if the kids have unplugged altogether. Hamlin has been encouraging his students to blog regularly about their virtual fast at facebookfree.org.
And for most students, the blog seems to be working as a place for active and open discussion without reverting to the glib "likes" "tags" and "pokes" of Facebook.
"I'm quite glad that I deactivated my Facebook page because most of the things I wrote on it were absolutely ridiculous," wrote one student.
Others aren't coping so well.
One anonymous student's blog post titled "Day 1" consisted of one large tearful, unsmiling emoticon.
