It’s noon on Sunday and I’m barely awake. The sun shining in is way too much after Saturday night’s events, and my head is throbbing. I roll over and there it is, my Nikon Coolpix camera waiting for me on my desk whispering, “Upload me.” I meander over to my computer and log onto my Webshots account. Five minutes later, there they are: my dozen pictures from last night.

Webshots and now, the newer way to waste time and stalk your crush, Facebook albums are highly addictive forms of procrastination and are a great way to share snapshots of your college experience with friends at different schools.

How excited do you get when you scroll through profiles on your buddy list only to find that the boy from high school who you haven’t talked to in years or your best friend from back home has that famous phrase, “New pictures updated!” With one click you’re instantly transported into a world of drunken photos from parties, friends dressing up in vintage stores for weekend fun, and late night/early morning photos at the bars. You find yourself staring for hours at pictures of people you know, and more creepily, pictures of people you don’t know, just to take a peek into other people’s lives.

Most students think the albums are great additions to our online worlds. “I never had a problem with online albums before,” said freshman Talia Markowitz. “But it can be weird that someone has access to your photos and your friends’ photos. When people have a lot of photos I look at them. Anything online is something I can procrastinate with.”

Photo stalkers beware: some people do track who’s looked at their photos. The IMChaos.com police allow people to put links in their profiles to their pictures where others can view your photos, while you can view who and how many times people have been slipping in and out of your digital life. Big Brother is watching when you suddenly find out people you aren’t friends with, or even worse, people you’ve never met are checking out your photos after every Sunday morning update.

“I know that some people think the whole photo thing online is weird but I don’t see the problem,” said sophomore Chris Morris. “The only annoying thing about them is how people can stalk you.”

Webshots allows you to put up 200 photos before making you pay a fee. An easy way to get around this is to simply start another account with a different email address. Presto, 200 more free photos for you to share. So snap away.

Sophomore Allison Clark believes online albums are a way to represent someone’s identity. “I think that if it’s used appropriately, it’s a great way for people to connect. It seems as though our society is moving towards communication through technology rather than personal human contact and these programs exemplify this cultural shift among our society,” she said.

Whether you’re the stalker or the stalked, Webshots and Facebook albums (not to mention Shutterfly and all the other photo-sharing websites), promote a fun part of sharing highlights of your life with everyone else. But the next time you say “cheese,” just think about how many people are going to look at that smile come Sunday morning.