Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The Up Side of Facebook

I only recently created an account on Facebook.  I kind of prefer actual human contact to the virtual kind.  I resisted when people encouraged me to sign up.  The few mommy friends I have agree it's a good idea to watch your child's Facebook interactions - if only so you can intercept if they say something stupid.  Mine hasn't, luckily, but it's good for her to know someone's watching. 

A lot of the connections I've made on Facebook have been nice, and some have been annoying (none of you of course).  But much of the interaction is very superficial - and I guess it's meant to be just that, but it lessens the value of the interactions.  Friends aren't really friends.

But yesterday, I have to say I was loving it.  My cousin, who might live in Virginia - I'm honestly not sure and haven't seen her since I was a little girl - was having her first grandchild.  She kept everyone up to date on the status of the delivery throughout the day and into the evening.  It was so exciting.  I read messages of encouragement to her and her daughter from my aunts, uncles, and cousins.  I felt a real connection to people I haven't seen in 30 years.  I kept logging in and checking her page to see how it was going.  It felt almost, not quite, but almost like I was there. 

After a while, the updates stopped.  I was worried something was wrong.  Eventually pictures of her sweet grandchild appeared, and we all exhaled.  How cool is that?

3 comments:

  1. I'm a bad FB user. I used to like it then I ended up liking Twitter better. They are useful tools, but yes, superficial in many ways.

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  2. I LOVE FB! I love keeping up w/ ppl. I have made some good friends thru FB, that encourage me when I am down. I even got to met her in real life during my trip last year. We "chat" just about everyday.

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