Thursday, July 22, 2010

Why Facebook, Why?

I haven't been on Facebook in awhile. The sparkle that was once in my eye for that special networking site has faded. I've been a Facebook member since high school, and I used to waste away my day looking at pictures, searching for new buttons that expressed who I am, and adding more information to an already jam-packed profile.

Now, as a 22 (almost 23 year old) the last thing I did was post pictures from this summer. I had to...you see, my newest nephew was born on the 17th, and I had the Facebook urge to show my friends and relatives his cute, little baby face. His name, if you would like to know is Alec Boyd Bodenburg. And I have a feeling I will love him just as much as I love Alec Baldwin.

The day he was born I traveled to the nearest computer to write in my status a congratulatory statement to my brother and his wife. My sister, Tyne, had already written one, and so had my brother (the father of Alec) - earlier in the morning after Alec was born. Then I realized that this information on my six hour old nephew had already gone viral!

Back in the day, when dinosaurs weren't able to chat with their prehistoric buddies via Facebook chat, since it was down (as it almost always is), they had to telephone people, send letters, walk to their neighbor's house to deliver news of any sort. Now, I can go on my laptop and type in a simple sentence and have hundreds of friends know instantly.

I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but it seems like not long ago, we were a more connected society. And through physical contact we achieved this.

Likewise, I can go on Facebook and find out in about ten minutes of browsing, who is pregnant, who is single, who got laid-off, and who got drunk the weekend before. I can see who got a new tattoo, who scored the highest in the racing game, who would "rather be enjoying the nice weather instead of working," and who is putting their child down for a nap and will be back to Facebook shortly. This social network is more of a private network seen socially by anyone who is "friends" with someone else.

But this isn't all bad. On the contrary, word spreads fast on Facebook and you can learn a lot about someone or something that is going on. I agree that Facebook is a nice way to massively spread information and share good news - like my nephew, Alec.

But I also think that maybe we should step back a bit, and not share anything and everything that happens to us the moment it happens. I don't want to know about the hair clog in your sink drain. I don't need to know that (Pet name here) peed all over the carpet, and I definitely don't want to know when you woke up, went to bed, or when you are eating.

If you would send out a public announcement about an engagement, wedding, baby arrival, and/or change of address to your friends and family, then it is okay to post that on Facebook.

If you call up your mother every time you take a bite out of your sandwich...then I would think twice about letting your Facebook friends know, because, honestly, we don't care.

(I've been subject to writing useless Facebook status updates in the past...I think we all have)

11 comments:

  1. I LOVE THIS POST.

    I generally block the people who feel the need to give every painstaking detail of their mundane existence out via 'the book'.

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  2. I agree with Mr. Mad Hatter--Love this post:)

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  3. Here's an example from a friend of ours on Facebook: "NAME is gonna rent some movies and order pizza with mike's nephew while we wait for mike to get home from golfing."

    We don't need to know that.

    Now, here's a status worth knowing about: "Why didn't Robinson Crusoe and the Robinson family (The Swiss Family) try to get off the islands? This is really bothering me..."

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  4. I wish one of my friends would read this post. She gives a minute-by-minute update of when she's taking the kids to school, fixing herself lunch, cleaning the living room, yada yada yada etc etc so on and so forth. She's a sweet girl but I seriously just can't seem to care.

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  5. Lol, I don't spend much time on FB, but as you said all I need is 10 minutes to find out every little stinking detail about everybody.I like to be on "need to know" basis and honestly I don't need to know

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  6. Agreed! I am so over Facebook. When I first discovered it, I thought it was the greatest thing ever. Now I see very little that interests me ... and I get tired of reading all the crap (games, stupid things that people have decided to "like", etc) in hopes that I might see something of interest. Usually not.

    That being said, I am completely nosy (nosey? how do you spell that?) and love looking at pics of people I haven't seen in awhile. I especially love it when I have aged far better than they have.

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  7. First off: I have to say that I am a big fan of your blog and that I irrefutably enjoy all your posts.

    More importantly, this comment is mainly to agree with you. It's true; we have become, in a way, unconnected by social networking because friendships no longer require effort. Whereas in the past we may have mailed a card on Birthdays, Christmas/Hanukkah, secular festivals, anniversaries, baptisms etc., we now just "message" people and avoid that interaction and even the truth in what we say because, unlike on computers, we cannot erase something: we need to consider and decide what is necessary and truthful, often in the most concise way.

    Again, congratulations on such a fantastic post and truly brilliant blog.

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  8. Stop by my blog, “Inspire!” for inspirational messages!

    http://inspiredbyron.blogspot.com/

    http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/inspire_343432/

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  9. Great post! I completely agree with everything you said, and have also been known to write nonsensical and meaningless status updates. Now, I try to only update my status if something riles me or moves me enough to talk about it. Like the fact that Carowinds just got bought out by some Cedar Fairs and is no longer run by Paramount, and that because of this they changed the amazing Top Gun ride to The After Burn, which really upset me as I cannot conceive of renaming a roller coaster that was clearly named for a classic 80s film. But I won't start on that, as I couldn't stop fuming about it yesterday at the amusement park with my best friend.

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  10. whoa..somehow I missed reading this post til just now.. LOVE IT! maybe because it references my son ;) but also because it's SO TRUE! i hate reading someone's status about what they are making for supper that night. WHO CARES!

    good stuff kinsey.. :)

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  11. facebook is sooo annoying like this!
    Who cares if u just took a freakin nap?! 'Cause I sure don't. It makes me not even want to use facebook because of the stupid news feed. Plus my mom uses a fake name to spy on people!

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