I Blame Facebook

Okay, so it’s not entirely fair to blame Facebook for my lack of posts for the last couple of months. Sure, there were other factors — one of my busy times of year at work, lots of personal commitments, and perennial time-eaters Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour. And let’s not forget Christmas (although I’d certainly love to).

But Facebook certainly hasn’t helped. I started on Facebook last August, although I wasn’t really that interested. Peer pressure kicked in, though, and as more and more of my friends got involved, so did I. (Although I still refuse to post a picture of myself for my profile. I hate pictures of me.)

Wikipedia describes Facebook as “a free-access social networking website.” Basically, Facebook has two main functions. One is keeping up with people in your life. I’ve reconnected with people from high school, but I also use it to keep in better touch with my mom and my best friend. I’ve even spent time chatting with my five-year-old “niece” on Facebook — whenever the princess is able to convince her mom to type for her.

The second function of Facebook is wasting time. Even if there’s no one online to chat or trade snarky wall comments with, there are plenty of quizzes to take (and challenge others to), pictures posted by friends to look at, and groups to join. Just today, I became a fan of “Memphis music” and the television show Dexter, and joined the groups “When I was your age, Pluto was a planet” and “I judge you when you use poor grammar”.

There are, of course, down sides. For example, while I refuse to post pictures of myself, others have no such qualms, and have “tagged” said pictures such that others can easily find me in them. Also, while it’s great that your friends can find you easily, so can anyone else, whether you want them to or not.

Apparently, I’m not the only one to concede a chunk of my life to Facebook. Just today, I was reading this article on Time.com, questioning whether Facebook really connects people, or just allows them a false sense of connection without face-to-face contact. Maybe I’m deluded, but I feel like I’m more in touch now than I was a few months ago. And since I’m going to spend time online either way, if I can do it in a way that allows more human connection, so much the better.

But I do have one piece of advice for anyone considering joining Facebook. Be forewarned: somewhere out there is a person with a copy of your sixth grade class photo and a scanner. And that person may just be on Facebook, too.