Face It Or Not

Another example of – I got it but I don’t get it. But then again, maybe I do.

After much chiding and prodding I signed up for an account with Facebook. After having this account for several months I can honestly say I still don’t get it.

It’s not that I don’t understand all the features, like loading photo albums or movie clips, which I don’t, but should go without saying for a techno-challenged paper and pencil guy like me. It’s not that I don’t see some value in being able to keep tabs with old friends or family members who may have moved away (most of whom do know how to do all that stuff). It’s that most of what I see posted by folks who have invited me to be on their list of friends is either complaints about issues in their life that I would probably not want to share with a blanket broadcast or is information exchanged by folks that seem to have the need to share their most mundane tasks. “Good Morning FB”, “Goodnight FB”, “I’m going to work now”, “I going to wash the dishes now”, “I’m going to check to see of the mail is here yet”. Is this really what Al Gore invented the internet for?

My favorite author C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying “I begin to suspect the world is divided not only into the happy and unhappy, but into those who like happiness and those who, odd as it seems, really don’t.”

I take some comfort from the fact that my spiritual guide was able to see this trait in people some 50 or 60 years ago as it lets me know this is not a recent phenomenon. I also could not agree more with his insightful appraisal.

There are those who have included me into their Facebook world that have good news to announce and pictures or videos of happy moments. I enjoy sharing in their happiness in a vicarious voyeuristic sort of way. But it seems that many more are folks who, for whatever reason, feel the need to share the most dismal details of heartbreak and trouble. It’s not that I cannot or do not have compassion and empathy for these folks, but my biggest sorrow is that the issues they so freely announce to their entire Facebook buddy list need far more personal attention than they could hope to get through this venue.

It’s one thing to share the heartwarming pictures of your two young sons after they discovered the unparalleled joy of creating and then playing in mud as one friend did, but it is something else to share the sordid details of a nasty legal battle in divorce court as another did. Once again, it’s not that I don’t care that they are hurting. It’s just that if they are looking for some help with a problem maybe something a little more personal and private with a close and trusted friend rather than an entire list of friends, acquaintances and those include in the “friends list” so as to not hurt their feelings, may lead to a better solution.

I don’t know if we have completely lost the ability for personal interaction or if it is a glaring example of what C.S. Lewis suggested; that there are simply some folks that do not want resolution because for whatever reason they don’t like to be happy and would just rather complain.

Nonspecific interaction in the most private and personal matters in our life without any human personal contact. And they call it technological advancement.

Maybe I do get it. I just don’t want it.