• On TV.com: NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Episode 138: The End

Technically Incorrect

Read all 'Somerfield' posts in Technically Incorrect
August 15, 2008 4:27 PM PDT

Firm evidence that Facebook makes you fat

by Chris Matyszczyk
  • 3 comments

The world is swelling and it appears to be Facebook's fault.

A far-reaching survey in the UK has shown quite conclusively that Prince Charles's subjects are stuffing themselves with 'chocolate and crisps' (the latter might be known to you as potato chips) while eagerly following their friends online.

According to these figures, 33% of those surveyed said they had put on seven pounds in the last three months.

But here is the real kick in the gut for the social networking industry. Almost half of those surveyed claimed that they would rather eat the leftover grease from the morning's plate of bacon, eggs and beans than fail to follow their friends' status updates.

Well, they didn't specifically mention the grease. The clever survey construction team asked them to choose between filling their face with a 'proper evening meal' and filling their evening with Facebook.

This is a new roadsign that says "three people should not try to lift one social networker."

(Credit: CC Clagnut)

If you're not frightened enough already, then please consider that almost 75% of those surveyed said they found it difficult to tear themselves away from their laptops once they had been lured into the louche and iniquitous worlds created by Facebook, MySpace and other companies that are clearly in cahoots with manufacturers of unhealthy foodstuffs.

If you happen to be on a business trip to the UK in the near future, please be warned that the city in which most meals are skipped is, allegedly, Newcastle, a city whose most famous son, the soccer player Paul Gascoigne, had, as his closest companion, someone called Jimmy Five Bellies.

Before this information has you tossing your MacBook from a great height into the River Ohio or the window of the local Jenny Craig, you might like to know who sponsored this survey. As with so much scientific research, a touch of sanguinity is always sprinkled when one discovers who are the paymasters.

Well, in this case, it is a company called Somerfield. Somerfield bills itself, you will be agog to hear, as "Your Convenient Local Supermarket."

In other words, just before you go home to stuff your face while searching for digital company, please pop in to our supermarket. Where we do sell more than chocolate and crisps.

I just held my laptop a little distance from my tummy in order to waft to the Somerfield site. And I discovered that their home page is adorned by a large illustration of a somewhat portly man grilling two substantial and not entirely healthy-looking sausages on a barbecue.

His tongue is pointing upwards and out of his mouth as if licking his lips is not enough and he is about to lick the whole area between his nose and his mouth.

This is clearly a man who has at least 2,000 friends on Facebook.

  • prev
  • 1
  • next
advertisement

Google's mobile hopes go beyond Nexus One

The world may have thrilled to the potential for a Google Phone, but what Google actually unveiled is its plan for a new smartphone world order.
• Photos: Unboxing Nexus One

Using your smartphone safely

faq Worms, Trojans, and SMS attacks are risks for mobile phones, but the biggest practical threat to users is losing the device.

About Technically Incorrect

Chris Matyszczyk brings a fresh and irreverent perspective to the tech world in his CNET blog, Technically Incorrect. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET.

Add this feed to your online news reader

Technically Incorrect topics

Most Discussed

advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right