Students nonplussed by the absence of certain friends from their Facebook news feeds in the last month may have the church calendar to blame. During the season of Lent—a 40-day Christian holiday during which celebrants traditionally abstain from selected indulgences as a gesture of piety—some students at Texas Tech and elsewhere have reportedly sworn off social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.
The Lenten season began in late February and ends on Easter, which is April 12. The pope has lauded such Web sites in the past for helping to strengthen friendship and understanding, but many students acknowledge that they offer hazardously convenient ways to waste time. –Steve Kolowich
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