Six months after putting up a facebook profile, I’m utterly bored. I’ve said it. I’m sure I’ll be assaulted by the Facebook cultists, but it’s true.
I had failed to check my account until recently when it appeared that several friends had sent me quizzes. I love these friends (and if you’re reading, please don’t take offense), but I don’t have time for quizzes. I’d rather you quiz me in person so we can have a good laugh together. I’d rather we go see a movie. I’d rather we enjoy each other’s company. Lately, I’d just rather connect (eh-gad!) in person.
I admit, I use Facebook to plug articles, videos, and other things that I hope my “community” of friends and colleagues will enjoy and pass on to others. In this way it serves a practical purpose. But it says little about me or what I’m truly about, except for where I live, my interests, perhaps what organizations I give to, or my political or religious affiliation (which I don’t even state). I can network, though LinkedIn is more appropriate for work connections. It’s mostly about surface things.
You can’t communicate much on Facebook. True, you can share quizzes and jokes, and poke people, or send funny icons. And you can see what that old friend in high school now looks like (admit it, you’ve checked), but you can’t contribute much of your personality or truly understand another human being. You can post a link to a story; but it fades into the background. We all use it because we think that’s all there is. Like all trends, someday something else will come along and rapidly replace it.
A friend tried looking for me on Facebook, but found there were a sea of others with my same name out there. (Most of them college students I imagine.) He requested that we be “friends” and I agreed. When we did finally link to each other, I discovered that he already had close to 150 other “friends” on Facebook. Somehow the sweetness of his wanting my “friendship” dissipated. Was I really the 151st person he’d asked to be his “friend”? If you have 150 other friends, what’s one more? Maybe I should have ignored it and spent those ten minutes doing something more fun: like eating, sleeping, or reading.
