O.k. I admit it - I don't understand Facebook. I just don't get it and I don't particularly want to. It can't be a generational thing because lord knows many grandmothers are using it to stay connected with their grandchildren. I have resisted Facebook without knowing why although the light is beginning to dawn.
At this stage in life, friends are so important and the quality of those friendships easily trumps the quantity. Do I really want to reconnect with people I've gone to school or worked with over the last 40+ years? The answers seems to be a resounding 'no'. Maybe for others it's a way of reconnecting with the 'one that got away'. I probably have a few of those if I gave it an ounce of thought. My excuse is I can't afford to lose ounces here and there. I want to save them and lavish my friends with pounds of intense connection, even if we only manage to visit a couple of times a year (and even better if we manage a couple of times per month). Can it be replaced by a quick quip on Facebook? Not for me.
Public access to personal information gets under my skin. One pathetic example came on my birthday. I am linked into a facebook group and I received a birthday greeting from someone who wouldn't otherwise know my birth date. I was rather touched that he had discovered this from someone who would be privy to the date, and then he acted upon it. More fool I. Apparently, when I had to register in the group I needed to post my birth date (of course, I did it without considering the ramifications - should have known better), alas, now it pops up to remind all those in the group of my birthday. What did it achieve? An insincere birthday greeting. No harm was intended or endured, it's just the effect fell far short of the intent. No harm done - no goodwill gained.
You never know, I may get with it and find a role for facebook in my life. Or I can just wait for the whole thing to pass.
5 years ago
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1 comment:
As creatures of habit perhaps the thought of re-connecting to old relationships seems a daunting task. I should know, I have experienced it first had when 2 of my closest friends from grades 5 & 7 popped out of the blue. Do I really have time for 2 renewed friendships was my question. I have to admit, during our first face-to-face reconnection I thought that, perhaps, I should leave the memories lie, just as they have for the past 30 years. Why create new ones with old friends? I also have to admit that these two ladies have become a source of understanding, support, friendship and guidance over the past year and I have Facebook to thank for that. It's is like we have never been apart. Perhaps it is because we shared those tender formative years and, in fact, grew together when we were so impressionable. I don't think Facebook is so doom and gloom. It certainly has affected my life with two very rich relationships from the past. No one can understand me in the same way as my childhood girlfriends.
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