Addiction is a serious disease that many people struggle with all of their lives and it has such an impact on their existence that they sometimes never fully recover.

So believe me when I say that I am very concerned about the recent addiction I have developed to the new drug better known to us college students as The Facebook.

For those of you who are not familiar with this drug, it is a college networking site where students can view the picture and profile of students at Tech and all other participating schools in the country.

At first explanation, many people I talk to who are not a part of the site do not understand how I could possibly get addicted to just looking at people's pictures and profiles. But just like any other addictive drug, you just have to try it to understand it's true affects.

I mean, I have experienced all the symptoms of someone who truly has an addiction. Every day, the first thing I think about doing when I get some free time is logging on to The Facebook and seeing if anyone has sent any messages and added me as their friend.

After I find out I have been asked to be someone's friend or have a new message from a friend that I haven't talked to in years, I get so excited that it's like a fun, free high that I don't get from anything else.

The Facebook is even starting to affect my life. I find myself staying up later than necessary each night because I have to literally pull myself away from my computer so that I can get some work done. It has gotten to the point where I can not even get on the Internet without checking out the site.

I realized I had hit rock bottom when I looked through the profiles of everyone at Tech and asked all the girls who had the name Brittany (only the ones spelled like mine, of course) to be my friend.

What my purpose of doing this was I don't know, but those girls are really cool because they all accepted.

But The Facebook is not completely bad for you. It is a very social drug and I have learned more about a lot of the students here and elsewhere by being on the site. I have also been able to communicate with my friends a lot faster than with trying to get in touch with them by phone and that saves my text messages.

Yet, the saddest part of my addiction, is the fact that I love being on The Facebook so much, that I even try to get other people hooked on it by encouraging them to become a member as well. I am shameless. I know.

Even though The Facebook is addictive and time consuming, it has still brought a lot of joy into my life.

I have found long lost friends and developed new ones.

So until someone starts a Facebook Anonymous group for me, I am going to keep going back for more. Besides, I don't think I am ready to quit yet.

Shameless. I know.

Brittany Wall is a sophomore journalism major from Jackson, Miss., and serves as a news editor for The Tech Talk. E-mail comments to bgw003@latech.edu.