I wonder if it has something to do with the Christmas window, when sentiments are stirred, but I’ve noticed a flurry of activity on FaceBook. I’ve ignored FB for the most part since it came out, being the suspicious type and also a little freaked out at the notion of so much personal information floating about out there, but a few days ago I decided to join. Once in, I learned that many of my family members are in. We already have our own personal family message board that my BIL launched on Christmas Eve, 1999, on which we’ve chalked up 11,961 message so far. Amazing! And now there is FB. I noticed that most of our join dates are within the last week or so, which is interesting, since we joined independently of one another, for whatever our own reasons were, and nobody mentioned they were doing it. Once in, though, we found each other. It reminds me of that song, Escape, I think it’s called, “If you like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain…”
In retrospect, I could have been a bit smarter about the sign-up process, like the part where you give them your name. Your real name. Now, the guilt-ridden catholic schoolgirl in me considered using an alias, then won over and used the real deal. Next, all these pictures of people I might know popped up, with the instruction to click on anyone I might know. So I did. THANK THE HEAVENS ABOVE I didn’t click on all the ones I recognized. Little did I know that FB would send these folks a friendship invitation. My social anxiety just kicked up a notch. I mean, I clicked the picture of my first love, from a quarter century ago. I only realized after the fact that he’d been invited to be my FB friend, and I didn’t know how to take back the invitation. No harm done, he’s a fine person and seems to be living a fine life. Awkward moment for me, though!
And then there’s the matter of anonymity. In a way, I’m glad I used my real name on FB, because I don’t know that I’d want any and all of my life acquaintances to read my blog (no worries, really, there’s very little traffic here!), and I don’t mind my blog friends who are on FB knowing my real name. It’s not too hard for the two worlds to collide, though, if one but follows the yellow brick road.
