If it didn’t get posted on facebook, did it really happen?

An adaptation of the old adage, if a tree fell in the forest would we hear it, I often wonder, if it wasn’t posted on facebook, did it really happen?

Facebook, initially an online site used by college students, has over the years avalanched into a way daily communication in mainstream society. There’s snail mail and telephone-- ways of the old world. Then there’s texting, twitter, and facebook-- the way of the new.

Everyone these days has an account on facebook, my friends, my siblings, even my boss. Heck, the only people that don’t have facebook accounts are probably my mother and me. (gasp! I know, why doesn’t my mother have one!) O.k. the point is exaggerated and of course there are people out there who don’t use facebook but these days, it seems like those are far and few between.

Everyday I walk by my co-workers’ desk, I see the facebook webpage up on her monitor and she is not alone in this frenzied facebook addiction. Yes, it is an addiction. Users tell me how fabulously entertained they get from reading everyone’s adventures and how quickly they are informed about the lives of others. If email was hurting work productivity, I can only imagine the decrease in productivity that facebook “surfing” generates.

I asked my friend, a devout Christian and facebook addictee to give it up for Lent and he declined citing his pastor’s encouragement of using facebook as a way to connect people. God help us, facebook is here to stay.

Initially I didn’t join the cultural digital phenomena of creating a facebook account because I was deeply and emotionally scarred from my horrible online stalker experience with a myspace account. Needless to say, the litigation that has ensued the company has been met with much satisfaction by me. I sent letters to myspace warning them of the legal ramifications of their lack of identification verification and was given no response and no cooperation in identifying the online stalker. More than 3 years have passed since that myspace debacle and since then I have joined online networking sites like LinkedIn. Why then can’t I get with the times and create a facebook account?

Friends have reassured me of the safety and security of the application and how you really can have access to people you know. Friends have invited and encouraged me to sign up for an account and really, I am not knocking online social networking tools. I see the utility and greater purpose it serves. It can connect and reconnect people. It can showcase and highlight individuals’ creativity. It is an outlet to share and disseminate wonderful news in an instantaneous manner. It is an effective means to invoke action quickly-- whether to garner support for political purpose, attend an event, or learn about opportunities, I can’t argue that facebook has made it easier to connect people for all of those reasons.

Again, why then haven’t I signed up? A part of it is a staunch stubbornness, a part of it is a desire to not give in to temptation, and a part of it is just wanting people to call and write. I wonder if it’ll ever get old to get a card in the mail and if future generations will even know what Hallmark is. I certainly know I still love receiving cards in the mail. So pick up the phone, send a loved one a card. Sure it’s not as convenient and sure it’s not instantaneous but lasting relationships rarely are.