By Lisa  Conley
Round Table editor

Students eagerly line up outside the auditorium doors, chatting with friends as they slowly move forward. Once inside, they are greeted by the sight of a table stacked with books. Each student is handed a sleek yearbook, the excitement obvious as they begin to flip through the pages.

Yearbooks have always been a source of huge anticipation; all the highlights of the year captured as photos to be cherished forever. As I received my own yearbook I, like everyone else, enthusiastically scanned the pages looking for pictures of myself or my friends. After the initial hype however, I began to wonder whether or not I had just wasted $79.64.

In this digital age, social networking sites such as Facebook are flooded with pictures throughout the course of the year. Football games, homecoming, prom…photos from these events and others like them are often posted the very next day. This instant access lessens the significance of waiting for the yearbook.

Of course there are components of the yearbook that aren’t online, such as interviews and stories, but people often don’t bother reading those unless they or their friends are featured. Self-centered? Maybe. True? Absolutely.

Perhaps people who consider themselves sentimental look at yearbooks as long-term investments. They envision themselves pulling out their old high school yearbooks to share with their children and grandchildren. They’ll out all of the people who meant something to them and laugh about how styles have changed.

I, however, am not one of those people. If someone was truly important something to me, I’ll have pictures of us outside of school, which is a lot more meaningful than a stiff portrait in the yearbook.

But years from now all of the signatures and heart-felt messages will still be special, right? In short, no, they won’t. People who don’t know you will write generic things like, “Have a great summer!” while close friends will write inside jokes whose meaning will be forgotten in ten years’ time.

Despite all of this, it’s nearly impossible to avoid getting swept up in the thrill of yearbooks. Maybe the excitement of other’s is contagious or maybe I’m more sentimental than I’d like to admit, but either way I know I’ll have my yearbook with me each and every day until the bell rings at 2:15 on June 14th.