Monday, July 21, 2008
Saving Face
I had tried joining Facebook many moons ago and was horrified to learn that there was an online community that I, not being a student, was excluded from. In the intervening years I came to (more than) embrace Myspace. Now, of course, Facebook opened its doors to us older folk and I very reluctantly joined (oh yes, my grudges extend to websites). It was fun, for about a week, but then it just got annoying when people I didn’t know started telling me to feed my pet Dolphin because he was on the Most Hungry List. Now I’m noticing a new phenomenon. Amnesia.
Somehow most people I went to school have managed to completely stay out of the Myspace loop, yet when Facebook removed the age limits, the floodgates opened and they came flying in. I was able to find people I hadn’t thought of in years on there. But find is all I had any interest in doing. Sure, there are a few people that I did and would love to reconnect with, but for the most part I stayed in touch with anyone I really wanted to remain friends with. Somehow this concept has escaped my peers. I’m getting friend requests from arch-nemeses, friends are getting friend requests from evil ex-boyfriends, my brother is befriending his former bullies...is everyone mad or have they simply forgotten the past? Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy? Should I engage in this collective amnesia? I think not. I’d rather delete my account than pretend that I have any interest in being ‘friends’—virtually or otherwise—with these people.
Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon? Have you succumbed? Are you guilty of such behavior?!
