As many of you already know, I have a Facebook page but I don’t use Facebook much because I have my blog set up to update onto my Facebook page every time I write a new post. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Facebook as a way to keep in touch with family and/or friends who are out-of-town. But I don’t use Facebook to replace real, live, relationships with my family/friends.
I have a whopping total of 37 “friends” on Facebook and I like it that way. Why? Because my friends and/or family on Facebook are the same people I consider my friends and/or family in real life. I also have some friends and/or family in real life who don’t even use Facebook if you can imagine that!
I had to laugh the other day when chatting with my daughter, Shantel, and she told me she has something like 286 plus “friends” on Facebook! I said “OMG, I don’t think I even know 286 plus people so how in the world did you make friends with that many people?” Shantel laughed and said “oh mom, were not really all real friends like you are with your friends, it just looks good to show a lot of “friends” on your Facebook page.” I guess I must be missing something here, which wouldn’t be the first time, but, that just doesn’t compute in my giant, living in the real world, brain!
I also had to laugh when more than once over the past couple weeks I saw different posts on Facebook that showed a little questionnaire that said “I’m cleaning up my friends on Facebook let me know if you want to stay” or something to that effect… The first thought that came to my mind when I saw that was if you have to ask me if I want to stay friends with you, than apparently we weren’t really friends to begin with… I couldn’t imagine going up to one of my real friends, in person, and asking them if they wanted to stay on my friends list, could you? But, I guess that’s what happens when we as a society turn to “virtual friends” vrs putting in the time and energy it takes to make, nurture, and sustain real live friendships. And, yes, I believe it does take some effort to sustain real friendships, but it shouldn’t ever be too much work. You just need to not worry about who contacted who last and just send that card, email, text, or do a Skype if you are thinking about your friend. Why should it matter who contacted who last? You also need to not be a jealous friend but know that your friend can have other friends besides you without jeopardizing your special bond. I have that kind of special relationship with my real live friends, and I wouldn’t trade them for 1,000 people on Facebook who I may or may not even really know…but that’s just me. What are your thoughts?
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