The Right Profile

Though I’ve grown up in the digital age, there are some Internet phenomena that never managed to draw me in. I refused to join MySpace. I refuse to join Twitter. And although I waste a good chunk of my time on Facebook, I don’t understand why people are changing their profile pictures on a weekly basis.

It all started over winter break, when all my friends morphed into Pokemon characters overnight. “Where did all these Jigglypuffs come from?” I wondered. “And what did they do with my friends?” Within a week, the magic spell seemed to be broken – everyone returned to normal, and I went back to watching daytime TV in peace.

But then came Retro Week, when my News Feed was overrun with babies tagging each other in photos. Now it’s Celebrity Doppelganger Week, and Natalie Wood is posting on my wall.

Don’t get me wrong – I have no qualms with these new profile picture trends. In fact, it’s been very entertaining to see my friends’ old pictures and realize for the first time that some of them resemble famous people. I even jokingly suggested that my father post a picture of Roger Bart, for whom he is frequently mistaken. (Yes, my parents and I are all Facebook friends with one another. Make of that what you will.) I’d just like to know the reason for all this and who started it in the first place. Will this continue over the course of months or years, or will it eventually fizzle out like last year’s “Write 25 Things About Yourself” note? Either way, I plan on sitting back and observing from afar.