You Will Be Assimilated

I know how to take a hint and after two people in one day told me to get a Facebook account I decided to see what all of the fuss was about. I have nothing against social networking sites, but I must admit that I always thought these things were for 13 year olds, people posing as 13 year olds, and college girls with poor judgment. Little did I know that an entire world of people I knew and people I should know were out there. Within thirty minutes of signing up I found two very good friends from college and my 65 year old Aunt. It seems that half of my long lost friends are on their second marriage and the other half have come out of the closet. I have even found some blogger buddies! It's also forced me to go through some old photos and post them to my account - just for grins. It's very addictive.

In the months after I talked about feeling disconnected I have made an effort to re-connect. I organize a parents group, I have made an effort to get out of the house and I read more blogs and try to comment more often. Facebook seems like a natural progression. This kind of connecting is so easy, though, isn't it? They find the people you know by scanning your address book and you can have complete control over what part of yourself you present to the world, much like blogging. Unlike blogging, though, it is not anonymous. It's not a place for raw emotion or deep thoughts. You can put logos on your page that tell people what team you root for, who your candidate is and what kind of day you're having, but a fight with your husband? Probably not.

Is that really connecting? I don't have an answer. It's just something that I was thinking about as I added my Cubs and Obama logo to my page.

Do you want to be my friend? Pretty please?

(A photo from days gone by. I'm the pale one on the left.)