After much cajoling and several dozen invitations from friends, I created an account at facebook.com. After a week of having this social networking world at my mouse-click (a.k.a. fingertip), I'm still wondering, why all the hoopla?
Perhaps I'm missing something in the ability to share details about my life with scores of people. Talk about an Orwellian "1984."
Facebook, as a cyber-space stalker, is just creepy. And unlike Big Brother, this brand of surveillance hasn't been imposed on the masses; they have invited it.
Sure, there are privacy settings and it's up to me how much I share and with whom, but for some of the members of this social milieu, it's a daily play-by-play set to the lyrics of a popular 80s' tune; "Every breath you take, every single day, every word you say, every game you play, every night you stay, I'll be watching you.
I am a writer and most often I am writing about personal experiences. That sort of puts my feelings regarding the Facebook transparency trend in the category of conflicting opinions. In my defense, dear readers, I am not sharing with you the highlights of relationship, ups or downs, who I'm meeting, for what purpose, when and where, or the sorts of things I talk about with my closest girlfriends - all of which seems to be the fodder of Facebook.
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I understand. This online social networking is the wave of the millennial generation. Like we baby boomers, they will change the way their world works. And like our parents and grandparents before us, we will shake our heads and ask what that world is coming to.
I'll never forget the first time my brother contributed to the dinner table conversation offering the highlights of a cutting edge technology about to burst on the scene; a device to record television broadcasts for playback at a later time. My father asked him what drugs he was on.
Not wanting to be so lacking of vision, I am making an effort to embrace this new way of sharing with my "friends" with the caveat - proceed with caution.
I think a good rule of thumb is to never share anything I wouldn't want my own mother to read. Since all of my daughters have added me as a friend I only hope they, too, heed that advice. I'm definitely a mom who doesn't want TMI - too much information.
Now, I'm off to Facebook to update my status and let everybody know I've just finished this piece.
