I first posted this article on Facebook January 4th 2015. Much to my surprise, reliable sources immediately told me that Facebook was not the ideal format for what I was trying to achieve. It seems that I was naïve in assuming that a social networking site was a place where people shared ideas and opinions. Silly me! With a new philosophy in mind and a new venue for my writing, I am re-posting this article on my own website. I will only post the link to that site on Facebook if and as I write. My sincerest apologies to anyone that had scroll over the continue reading icon on my posts. I meant no inconvenience.
Last week I did something I thought I would do, well........ never! I started a Facebook page. And outside of the usual reasons that people do this, keeping in touch with friends and family etc. etc.... I experienced some results that were unexpected and a little disturbing. First of all I was very surprised by how popular I was. I have received numerous friend requests on a daily basis and if that wasn't enough to send my ego into the stratosphere, they liked all my posts, invited me to events and want to play games with me online. Who knew that I could be the center of attention to this extent? There is only one teensy problem that I, as a rational person, has with all this new popularity.....I DON'T KNOW THESE PEOPLE! Nope, not hardly one of them if any. What bothers me the most is that no one seems to realize, or care, that what they are doing online is basically the equivalent of opening a phone book, picking a random number, dialing it and asking the person that answers to be their friend. Would you say yes? No, probably not in that reality, but do it online and people will even throw in photos, addresses, family members, pets, possessions and when there going to be on vacation. These are things we tell our children not to do in reality but readily do it ourselves under the illusion that masks the internet. And why is it that these same people are the ones in the room that are the most shocked when they learn of a crime that stemmed from social media? It seems that a part of our society has forgotten some of the lessons our parents, who didn't tweet by the way, taught us. What's most disquieting to me is that some of us are passing that forgetfulness on to their children.
Another thing that caught me off guard were all the people crawling out of the woodwork of my past. I was genuinely shocked. Some of these people I haven't seen or spoken to in nearly thirty years.... again, for those who might have missed that while they were updating their status.... Thirty Years! I've been getting questions such as "OMG! Where have U been?" . Statements like "There U R!" and "It's been so long." Well, yes it has been a long time and I am....... here. The strange thing is that I never went anywhere. In the last twenty five years I've lived in two towns within twelve miles of each other, had just two home phone numbers (both published), and only three jobs. Where did I go? Why couldn't they find me? The answer is a reality that I do not care for but is true none the less. They weren't looking for me. Not until I gave them the opportunity to increase whatever status symbol they achieve by adding my name to their friend list. Simple as that.. Friendship reduced to a number. Now I want to tell everyone that has given me the privilege of reading this far that by no means am I not to blame in this situation. My hands are just as dirty, maybe even more so. Life tends to get in the way of things. We all get caught up in our families and jobs to the point that we leave things and people that matter to us in their wake. I submit that no one is not guilty of this and no one ever will be.
What troubles me the most is that what we do online, no matter how benign it seems, affects us. The tools we now use to connect with one another, past or present, are just that..... tools. They way we are using them is not helping our social dysfunction. In my opinion, it's adding to it. We are forgetting how to interact with each other. We're losing face to face contact along with basic safety common sense and no one seems to be concerned. The problem with tools is that they are only as good as the knowledge of the person using them. If we've forgotten how to use them..... what good are the tools? Strictly an observation. If you'll excuse me, Honey Boo Boo just sent me a friend request.
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