Things you face on Facebook

A few weeks ago, I joined the weird world of Facebook (which I usually mistype as "facebeek". What kind of site would that be?). Since I don't work at a computer all day anymore, I don't spend as much time looking for old friends and sending messages as I did when I started Myspace a few years back. It's pretty fun and, as I mentioned before, weird. Talk about a trip down memory lane. I have gotten back in touch with a few people from high school that I haven't talked to in almost two decades. Because you can check out peoples profiles once you are friends with them, it helps to avoid that awkwardness of conversation that can happen when you haven't talked to someone in 18 years or so. "So, how are you?" and "What have you been up to" are two inevitable questions that you tend to blurt out when first conversing with someone. If you haven't spoken with that someone in a long time, the questions seem kinda stupid as it would take a good long while to answer either one of them. Facebook helps fill in a few blanks before heading into some kind of regular communication.

I like going onto my home page when I first log in, so I can see what all of my 34 friends are doing without checking all of their individual profiles. I can see that my brother was laughing at old photos, or that my friend was surprised that she liked going to a Red Wings game or that my possible future sister-in-law wants to strangle her research advisers. Better yet, I get to comment on everything! Being prone to smart assery and two bittery, that is one of my favorite parts.

The downside is that you sometimes find out information that you don't know what to do with. One of my new Facebook friends is a woman I went to high school with and she is going through a devastating time with her newborn. It's a horrifying process to watch; she went from healthy and ready to deliver a week ago, to poor infant MRI results and very tough decision making. I have watched this process as she has been posting regular updates on her Facebook page. I'm embarrassed that I can't stop looking for updates, I'm totally drawn in. But I feel a little uneasy knowing intimate details about her life when I was more acquaintances with her in high school and it's been eons since we've even spoken. I feel like I shouldn't look, but how can I not? It's right there, she put it up on her profile right where all her friends can read it. It's also awkward that I get to see the outpouring of support too. It's heartwarming and wonderful, but still so personal.

It makes sense though. When you are going through a big life event like that, where things are changing many times a day, it seems logical to let everyone know in the simplest way possible. Updating on a site like Facebook seems smart from a time management standpoint. Still feels a little ooky to me. I don't know what to do. Do I comment? Do I just sit and watch? It's very peculiar and slightly upsetting.

Is this the future of our human relationships? Will we stop personal contact altogether and just send email and leave messages on social networking sites? I feel bad enough that I don't send letters anymore but I'll really miss talking on the phone and my all time favorite method of communication, rubber banding a note to a rock and throwing it through a window.