Facing Up to Facebook

I first joined Facebook a few years ago and all my friends sent messages..."WELCOME TO THE ADDICTION!!"

Frankly, I didn't know what they were talking about. Though I did enjoy catching up with friends who are far away and seeing videos and photos of all the new babies I just couldn't get into all the cyber tickling, poking, gift buying etc. I quickly lost interest and, as a result, there are a whole slew of new humans I haven't seen videos or photos of...too bad for me 'cause that's the only place I'll see them.

Why is social networking so popular? Because we all want to feel connected. It's a primal human need and, try as they might, "the powers that be" won't de-program that part out of our humanity. They can take away our bank tellers, our supermarket clerks, and, yes, even our library staff, but they can't destroy our humanity and our desire to feel touched by our own and others' humanity. It's one of the big reasons I wanted to work at the library...we will always be people helping people. The more we are pushed to uber-efficiency the more we forget who we are and how to be with each other. That's where applications like Facebook come in. It creates the illusion that we are actually connecting with others. Sure we're getting all the dirt, but we're missing the tears and the laughs and the touch that really make up the thrill of human connection. Your computer will never hug you when you are breaking up with your boyfriend or when you find out you are pregnant after years of trying. But we'll all get the news anyway.

So, is it useful or just a huge waste of time? It's both. The decision of how to use it is in your own hands.