Facebook Still Eludes Me
Darn it!!! Just when I was about to launch my myself into the world of Facebook....a story topping the news outlets this morning saying "doctors warn about Facebook depression." I know the story is mostly about depression in troubled teens, but hey what's to say it couldn't cause depression in codgers as well and if you think I'm going to take a chance like that.....forget about it!
As many of you know.....I have resisted the efforts to launch into Facebook. Resisted the opportunity to receive pictures and messages from people I haven't heard from most of my life....haven't missed them.....and probably wouldn't know them if I ran into them in the street. In a weak moment many months back, I did sign up for Facebook and within minutes, I was bombarded with messages and pictures from people I've never known, never intend to know and it took me six days to extricate myself from this incredible quagmire called "social media." What a phenomenal waste of time and effort, but I saw some kids interviewed on TV the other day claiming respectively...."I have 145 "friends" on Facebook." The other kid says "I have 160 Friends." A third kid says he has only about 50 since he just got started and the fourth kid claimed....."320 "friends" on Facebook.
Nobody.......I said NOBODY has 320 friends in a lifetime.....probably not even a dozen friends in a lifetime and you've got to know, the shrinks are having a field day with this one. As one researcher put it..."with in-your-face friends tallies, status updates et al, kids already dealing with poor self-esteem are finding this (Facebook) a particularly tough landscape to navigate.
"A Skewed view of life" was the conclusion of one shrink and that's probably a understament. But take the arguments all the way back to Dr. Spock, who admitted before he died that his child psychology books undoubtedly screwed up an entire generation of kids before people caught on to the fact...he was wrong. And now here we are with Facebook, My Space, Tweets from Twits, whatever.... and now you're being told, if you want to boost your 7-year old child's self esteem, go buy her a push-up bikini bra.
I repeat.......Darn.....just when I was about to..........Ain't happenin' this time Facebook!
