New Technology & An Old Friend

In my never-ending effort to keep up with the latest in technological communication, I have created my very own Facebook page. Actually, it’s better described as my faceless book page, as I’ve as yet to decide on a photograph to post.

I’d heard my kids (one just turned 40, but they’re still kids to me) talk about Facebook and figured it was some newfangled distraction for young people. Nothing I’d be interest in. Then a few of my friends signed on saying it was they only contact they had with their children outside of Friday evenings when they dropped the grandkids off for the weekend. I still wasn’t interested. One by one my friends succumbed to the lure of Facebook and I realized not unlike the lava lamp in the attic, that I hadn’t realized I needed Facebook until my friends had it and I did not.

I attempted to look at my friends’ Facebook pages, but found them available to other Facebook people only, reminiscent of the fifth grade club that met in our garage and admitted no unless they could recite the secret password. I gave in and signed up for Facebook and could access my friends’ pages. The Facebook police informed me that my friends only allow certain people to view their information. I was the new kid on the Facebook block and must ask my real-world friends if they would be my Facebook friends. I experienced some of the anxiety I had in the second grade when we moved to a different neighborhood.

After some begging and arm-twisting I had friends. I had friends of friends who then became our mutual friends. But best of all I was in the loop. I checked my page daily limiting myself to 10 minutes per day as some of my friends warned of the danger of addiction. After a month or so of knowing whose grandkids had diarrhea, who had an OB-GYN appointment scheduled, and how effective a home remedy for hot flashes actually was, I questioned the value of Facebook.

I enjoyed pictures of grandchildren, puppies, and bald husbands. But after opening a colonoscopy shot that I considered beyond the boundaries of good taste, I thought about dropping out of the Facebook world. I was on the verge of termination when I a message I received changed my mind. It seems a friend of mine had a friend who was the brother of an old friend of mine. We were close friends in high school, but hadn’t been in contact for several decades. This gentleman directed me to the Facebook page of my friend’s husband. I contacted her and we’ve renewed our friendship. We live in different parts of Ohio and we’re catching up on the lost years by email. Oh, the joys of Facebook. Once again, technology is my friend.