The Boredom That Is Facebook

Here's a good article about Facebook, what it does for your friendship, which isn't entirely positive.

Facebook definitely does allow you to touch base with people you haven't seen or heard from in years. I heard from a teacher from nearly 40 years ago the other day, which was a nice surprise. And I've reconnected (however superficially) with a few friends from high school and earlier. That's good, I guess.

I can see what my various family members are up to virtually every minute of the day, except when they're asleep. But they post something when they're up and can't sleep.

But the overall thing I take away from Facebook -- and I check in several times a day -- is how boring it is. Like the writer of the article mentioned above, it seems like my friends are busy with a lot of games, quizzes, surveys, causes, sending roses, hugs, etc. I ignore it all. And when I can keep up I block the various applications. It's too much! And not the least bit interesting!

I probably shouldn't mention this, because I hate to insult anyone, but I have a "friend" in someone I don't even know. Maybe everyone else does that. Like celebrities, they do it all the time. But I'm not everyone else and I'm not a celebrity. But this person liked some of my photos, meaning it was something that would be an interest in common, and she asked to be my friend. Being a softie I said yes.

But there's nothing about her life and her friends at this point -- nothing -- that has anything to do with me. So that's a little maddening. She even contacted me via the chat function the other day to ask me "How are you? How's it going?" etc. This is someone I don't even know. That was really fun.