Facebook

Ok, so another blogger that I follow already posted something similar to this topic, but please allow me to expound on it: Facebook. Who doesn’t have an account by now? Oh, C for one, and another good friend (MC, I’m calling you out here), but practically everyone else I know does. When I first joined about a year ago, I thought it was great fun to look up people from childhood and others I may have lost on the way. Admittedly, I’m not too active confirming people. I generally wait until they find me. I’m not sure why. There are some cases where I just have to be proactive, but it’s not frequent.

Lately, I’ve received lots of requests for friendship confirmation and I just let them sit there on my home page for a while. Some have been there for months. The more I think about it, the weirder it is to “confirm friendship” with someone you haven’t spoken to in 20 years or more. I’m not saying I’m opposed to it – my list of FB grammar school friends is a loud signal that I’m happy to reconnect with people from the past. But there are some confirmations I’m not so sure I really want to make. It’s pretty silly to hold grudges for more than, let’s say, 10 years, right? I mean, I should just get over it by now, yes? And what about those that I don’t confirm? I guess it becomes evident to them at some point that I’d just rather not be bothered, right? Clearly, I’ll never be one of those people with 300+ “friends” on FB.

What’s worse is that sometimes I feel absolutely no connection with those I’ve confirmed and so I question myself as to why I confirmed in the first place. I read their updates daily and think to myself, “I do not find this person interesting at all”. The common thread we share may have been college, high school or workplace, but if I didn’t speak to them when we were in college, high school or the workplace, what is the point of being “friends” on FB? I never comment on their status, write on their wall, send drinks or quizzes, or give a care, really, about what they’re up to now. It feels mean and that sort of bothers me. Like I’m some kind of FB snob. I think it’s really just malaise and/or apathy.

And of course, there are always those people with whom you do reconnect, read their pages and then become depressed. As in, “Omg, my life is so boring in comparison”. In case you didn’t get the memo, I’m not a world traveler, jet-setter, notable author, hot button issue activist, or NPR interviewee. I’m so *yawn* by contrast. The upside is that most people are fairly interesting, the same, and on the same level. I do admit that I love being shocked with good stuff, though. Here’s an example: some sisters that I used to babysit for found me on FB and we caught up. I can’t help but always think of them as the 4 little girls down the street. But, alas, they are all grown, married and mothers. I think there are 8 or 9 kids between them, some as old as 16! I was just blown away by that. Probably because I’m so old having my first child. But you know, surprised nonetheless.

I definitely embrace the merits of social networking sites like FB, and I genuinely like going on there at least once a day to see what’s up with my regular circle of friends and family. I don’t know that I’m looking for any sort of affirmation or critique here, more like a mind dump on the topic. Comments are, of course, always welcomed.