Facebook: Another Time-Sucker?

When my sister Megan invited me to join Facebook, I unwittingly clicked "confirm" and set up an account. Immediately, I began getting bombarded with people from my past, wanting to re-up our friendship. At first, it was pretty exciting - after all, I am the queen of nostalgia. But before long, I found the influx of e-mails and notifications overwhelming. Eventually, I figured out how to change my security settings and I've worked out a lot of the kinks.

Now I have a new problem: I feel like I'm back in junior high. This whole Facebook thing has brought about a whole new set of potential social anxieties not unlike those we probably all experienced at some point in our adolescence. There are some people from my past whom I have thought of often, wondered where they are, and wanted to get in touch with. Facebook is perfect for that. The problem is, you soon realize that you don't really have much in common with some of these people. Once you covered the whole where-have-you-been-and-what-have-you-been-up-to-for-the-past-17-years, there's sometimes often left to say.

It was interesting to me that people with whom I was friendly in high school, but with whom I was never really friends suddenly surfaced out of the woodworks; it completely blew my mind when one of the "popular" girls, and some of the big-time party-ers asked me to be their "friend". "Am I supposed to be flattered by this?" I thought. "I had nothing in common with this person before, what could I possibly have in common with them now?" Ultimately I decided that clicking that "confirm" button, and allowing even an aquaintance from the past to become a present friend of sorts might be a polite way of dealing with this. I've been surprised to find that I actually have quite a bit in common with some of the people I reluctantly confirmed. I think having children is the great equalizer, and at the end of the day, I realize that we've all been through our own share of stuff over the years and where we have landed is really what counts.

At the end of the day, I've decided that keeping up my Facebook account it worthwhile. I've made many connections, and of those, there have been a few that have meant a lot to me. I also like being able to keep up with people who are currently a part of my life, but who live far away. My friend Kerri is one of those people. This morning she and I had a fun conversation, waxing philosophical about the impact of this networking site. Her thoughts? Facebook is just another piece of technology sucking our time from us. We both agreed that even though it can often feel like a high school reunion that just went too long, it is probably worth it.