Crackbook Facebook

I didn’t used to be this way, but I really drag my feet when it comes to switching to technologically advanced products and things that are new and better. I get set in my ways and can stay there mighty content until I finally decide to give something new a try.

Facebook was no different. I had been a MySpace kind of girl for 3 or 4 years and was convinced it was the end all and be all of total coolness. Then suddenly, I noticed several of my friends jumping ship there and going to Facebook. Facebook looked boring to me. Where was the music? The cute graphics? But wait…is that…OHMYGAHIHAVENTSEENTHEMINYEARS!

Over the Christmas holidays last year I became hooked on Facebook. It seemed like everyone I had ever known in my whole entire life, from Kindergarten onward, was on Facebook. Friends, former classmates, co-workers, blogging buddies, family….I can check in several times a day and know what all of them are up to, what they eat for supper, where they vacation. It’s such a fantastic way to stay connected in real time that I can’t believe I didn’t go crazy over it sooner.

And then there’s the crazy. There has been many a time I’ve read about something happening in our own small town (a fire, a wreck, etc.) before the emergency workers even arrive on the scene. In the span of a couple of weeks, I have watched a couple’s nasty divorce play out online where they each air their dirty laundry for all of us to see, teenaged girl catfights over some trifling little boy who probably loves the attention more than anything, and someone’s very serious and personal medical condition talked about openly for all the world to see. My husband and I discuss daily the things we read on there and are continually amazed at how brazen people can be when behind a computer screen and how nothing is shameful anymore.

As brilliant as Facebook is and as much as I enjoy it, there are some days when I just shake my head and think it’s all too much information. Yet, like an addict, I must check it daily. I can even check it from my phone now. (See, I told you I was slow on technological advances)