A Face To Face Encounter with Facebook

I was using Facebook a lot. It was taking up my down time. I needed to take a break. So I set off for a seven day FB furlough to reset my priorities-it took one day.

I realized I was using Facebook for the wrong reasons. But first I have to say, I love Facebook. It's a special part of my day to log in and enter the cyber neighborhood. But I would enter this virtual community often and to the point where it was meeting a need only a real flesh and blood-community could and this, became the problem. I realized that I was putting unreal expectations on FB and the FBer's in this cyber village.

I have a passive relationship with FB. I am a sightseer sitting down from the comfort of a table at Starbucks. I log in and enter this electronic city. I could poke my friend Ed-race Lisa in her corvette and respond to Mari's post and do it without leaving the table. As a sightseer I'm scanning the scene-maybe make a comment or respond to a post and even send some energy packs to my pirate crew. But I was feeling bad when a post went unanswered or when I ignored an invite to "Watch the Paint Dry" social group.

I'm not physically present with my FB friends but we connect anyways. When Barry made that wisecrack I smiled. When Ron requested prayer-I prayed and when Cory told me I only took 7 furloughs days and not 8-I did the math. They didn't see me do this but we connected. In FB you post or poke or race or just hang out and view the profiles. I don't need to respond every time someone posted-I may but it's not necessary. This is a virtual community. I'm not physically in Sacramento, Las Vegas, London or the Philippines-I'm in So Cal as a cyber sightseer who is enjoying this passive but fun relationship.

This is both the dilemma and the joy of the virtual neighborhood-I respond to someone's post alone and yet we're together through the miracle of the internet. So to all my FB friends (and twitter and MySpace for that matter): I got the post-I felt the poke and yes Lisa you beat me again in the race. But most importantly I am glad you added me as an FB friend.