Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Let's Face It...

Ah, Facebook, I thought you might be a nice way for me to keep up with and reconnect with some of my old friends...and you were, for a couple of weeks. I did find that a bunch of my friends, with whom I could (and sometimes do) communicate in other ways, such as telephone, email, hell, even a visit now and then, do in fact have facebook accounts, or walls, as the case may be. So nice to be able to write a quick, informal note saying hello or passing on some bit of news.

But then I caught the bug. Started looking for people I know, or knew at some time, but with whom I'm not close--just to see who is signed up with you! And then I looked at their friends--did I know any of them? (And why would that be important?) So surprisingly addictive! Luckily, I don't know that many people any more, and I've forgotten a larger number of people I used to know than I'd like to admit. So my life was not consumed by you.

And further luckily, I did not use my name to sign up for you, so I'm hoping that not so many people are looking at me. (Thank God for that genetic paranoia.) But looking is what people do on your pages, and all sorts of people are "making friends" through you, and I suddenly realized that I'm not all that sure about the etiquette there, and what do I do if someone invites me to be friends and I don't want to be? I don't want people I'm not really friends with but who have become my facebook friends reading my little messages to and from my (real) friends! I'm not putting any photos on you but that would be even worse! So now I'm feeling a little bit gross about you.

Also, although I think it is totally fine to have a blog that is all about me, I think it is kind of icky to keep inputting to your pages what mundane things I might be doing at any given time, so that my friends can keep tabs on me. Firstly, my life is just not that busy. Secondly, I'm self-absorbed, but that's ridiculous. Thirdly, well, thirdly, I just don't have time to stop and take a moment to jot down that I'm washing dishes, or drying my hair, or going out, etc. Icky.

And now the kicker. One of my new facebook friends invited me to join one of your clubs, Facebook. (And in this case, new facebook friend does not equal close friend, at all.) Oh dear. So I went and looked at this club, and it is not cool. I do, in fact, know almost all of the forty some-odd members of this club, and really, none of them are my friends. None of 'em. Frankly, darling, I don't want to be friends.

So now what, facebook? Do I have to go dark, so that I can pretend that I never saw the invitation? Maybe I should get a new facebook name and account, and start fresh, and have no friends at all? Do I just stay away from you? Can I manage that? The dilemma, facebook, the dilemma of it all.

No comments:



Search This Blog