Facebook

     Facebook! UGH! It is high school for adults. Where else can one have 500 friends, yet talk to no one? Recently, Jimmy Kimmel had an "Unfriend a Friend Day" on his show. Great idea! Delete, Delete, DELETE! How wounded people get when they are deleted. Well, then maybe you shouldn't have been "friends" in the first place.
     I personally enjoy Facebook. It saves me a $1.00 from buying the Newsday just to check my horoscope. (Maybe I shouldn't write that, if someone sees it they'll start charging for that too) It did reconnect me with a few and I do mean a few people I lost touch with that meant something to me. I had to rip out my yearbook to look up names for half of the other requests. Then there are the people who were REALLY AWFUL to me in high school, who sent me requests. Why in the world did I accept them? They aren't any nicer to me now? And in the same vain, why would people want to be my friend after the way I treated them. It is human nature's insatiable need to be liked, accepted and needed. That doesn't change because we get older. It just gets easier to mask.
     My husband and I have or I should say had an Adult ADHD employee. He was recommended by a family member and is actually this family member's close, personal, touchy-feely, friend. His wife is just as neurotic as he is. She is not the type of woman I would have been friends with, however, as a couple we socialized briefly and she was my "friend" on Facebook. I could not take his neurosis on the job. It was extremely difficult to separate (for him) business and personal relationships, especially with the type of business we ran. As our business was in the last phase of closing, my patience for his nonsense ran thin. As a result, I deleted his wife from my friend list. I was cleaning house. She ran down her friend list, saw it was I and sent me a message. I tried to be nice, said it was a misunderstanding, because clearly, this chic isn't stable. But, I was never re-adding her! She got hold of my family member and complained to him. We joked about it during Thanksgiving. He explained how hurt she was and blah, blah, blah, so, as I always do, I felt bad and sent psycho another request.  She messaged him, asking again what happened, but ultimately accepted my request. A few days later she deleted me. Utterly ridiculous!
     My friend list is constantly changing, which again, I find bizarre! People add and delete as often as they change their underwear. My husband HATES Facebook. He uses his account to watch who interacts with me, because I have had a stalker and he feels no male should ever interact with me. However, as a mother of four boys, sister of four brothers, cousin to four male cousins, I AM the only female bloodline this side of my family and therefore (unfortunately for my spouse) interact better with men! He also uses his account for business networking, but not for social means at all. I have family around the country. I post my children's pictures, videos and latest accomplishments to keep everyone informed. I find it a quick and useful tool. I am sure I will yet again be deleted off of someone's list after reading this though. It's Facebook people; get over it!
     Perhaps, as young men, this is what the founders had in mind when creating it. I didn't see The Social Network. That will be an HBO movie night! I did read that co-founder Mark Zuckerberg claimed it is an inaccurate portrayal, however, I do wonder how closely related Facebook and Zuckerberg's own life is linked.  What a better way for a nerdy, young techie to get revenge on his more popular counterparts than to add them then delete them from his cyber life! Or, as I witness countless teenagers do, post unfavorable things about their "friends" for all to see! And of course there is the awful cyber bullying that has gained infamy lately with real kids committing suicide! Facebook helps me keep tabs on my two teenage boys. Rule in my house is if you want an account, you need to be friends with me!
         I posted during the "Unfriend a friend day" that I would be cleaning house. I never did, but noticed my "friend" numbers diminish. As is often posted on Facebook: ROFLMFAO! Did I touch a nerve; make people curious or nervous that I would delete them? Did my silly status have that much power? I don't know and I don't care! I do know that Facebook is here to stay. It is up to us parents to monitor yet another playground: The Cyber One!