One of my peers’ favorite topics of conversation these days seems to be related to Facebook, MySpace, somebody’s latest blog or a controversial reality show. Some regard this media as foolish — others treat it more like a guilty pleasure — but most everyone agrees that other people’s “realities” have captured their attention.

In a moment of latent curiosity that seems to have become more common recently among my age group, I picked up a copy of a local newspaper featuring pages upon pages of uber-personal blogs. Details that, in a different age, many of us would have considered too private, too personal, or even too mundane were splashed upon the page for all to see.

This occurred just after the enormous controversy surrounding Facebook’s implementation of the highly voyeuristic “News Feed” feature. I realized, as I found myself analyzing the intricacies of one blogger’s post-coital etiquette as freely as I relished a behind-the-scenes moment in “Hell’s Kitchen,” that there was something more to this intense desire to know personal details about strangers lives than we may think.

We often regard such nosiness as pathetic, and feel guilty about the fact that we watch “The Real World” as we comb through strangers’ picture comments on MySpace. It seems to us embarrassing and shameful, as if these practices are the ultimate testament to how little we have going on in our lives.

Well, this is where I’d have to disagree. I think that for once, the media might actually know what’s better for us than we do.

When you think about it, why do we, even guiltily, never fail to be bored with all this information about other people’s lives? Perhaps it’s because our curiosity is spawned more from the need for human connection than it is invasiveness.

Take, for example, the social atmosphere of college — the place we’re supposed to be most socially liberal and meet our future mates and best friends. More often than not, the bonding that occurs here is most helped by the fifth beer at a party or, of course, online.

In our generation of rapid technological innovation and with increasing value put on maintaining our own personal space, spontaneous and unprovoked interaction is at a minimum.

Walking to class, I see thousands of students cross streets and sidewalks unobserving and un-acknowledging of one another. People are hesitant to look in each other’s eyes and many are careful not to stand out.

Some want to blame this increasing social stiffness on the fact that we do spend so much time watching TV and surfing the Web in the first place, and perhaps that’s true. But the point is that when we listen intently to a confession on “America’s Next Top Model” or join a Facebook group based on whatever region of Illlinois in which we live, we are only yearning to get that human interaction back.

I don’t judge people who are intrigued and entertained by these personal glimpses into each other’s lives, because there’s nothing at all wrong with those urges. The people who I regard most highly are those who have the courage and confidence to recognize why we have these urges in the first place. These people, such as the individual who rides around campus on his bike with hip-hop blaring from the attached boom box, is doing his best to connect with others. In the moments when he rides past and 300 surrounding students, alienated and plodding by, look up and smile at each other — they’re sharing the same moment. And it makes my day.

So if you’re going to take anything away from this, don’t feel guilty about having what some might describe as “stalkerish” curiosity. Instead, recognize that you have a need to genuinely connect and interact with your species, and maybe all it takes is a smile or a hello to begin doing so.