I Wonder How I Feel About Social Networking Sites?

Oh my god. Oh my god, oh my god, I have done a bad thing.

I love my siblings, all four. I want to hear about their lives, I want to know their significant others, I want to see them at Christmas and Thanksgiving and wayyyy more often than that, even. I want Frog Baby to be close to his Aunts and Uncles, I want Darlin’ to feel like they are his brothers and sisters. I make lots of effort to keep (force) my presence in their lives and theirs in mine, and it’s worth all of the time it takes.

There are two of my siblings still in college, though, the two youngest, and college may as well be Mars when it comes to staying in contact with them. I accept this as a temporary dry spell, and soldier on with the unanswered emails and the pestering text messages, so they can roll their eyes but know that I take a genuine interest. So, a couple of years ago, against my inclination (because who has time for this?), I joined myspace. And never really looked at it again – I think my myspace page says that I’m still single, and has a picture from 5 years ago on it. I checked it once in a blue moon, but didn’t have the time to figure out all of the personalization options, and also it made me feel old and technologically stupid, whereas in most circles I am the hot young savvy thing who teaches the “old” people how to do stuff on the computer – a role I much prefer. And anyways, as soon as I put up a profile, my siblings migrated away from myspace and began facebookin’, as the young varmints call it, and I was all – SCREW THIS. I have a life, you know, I can’t go flitting about from networking site to networking site, learning the ropes over and over again. I have a job. I have a husband. I have a dog and a cat and a baby. What I don’t have is time, and so I returned to the unanswered emailing and the pestering text messages and decided to leave the social networking sites to the kids.

A month or so ago, a friend had a baby, and when I nagged her husband for baby photos he said “Oh, they’re up on facebook, check them out!” Hm. Then, I was looking for a picture of my brother for a project I’m doing for our mom, and my sister said “He has some really cute ones on facebook, get them there!” Then my husband’s uncle invited us to be his friends on facebook, and I realized that old people can do this after all, and I re-thunk my stand on social networking sites.

So yesterday, I joined facebook.

Schwoooooo, schwooooooo, schwooooooooooooooooooooooo

ScwhoooI’M SORRY?? WHAT WERE YOU SAYING??scwhooooooooowoooooooI CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OFschwooooooooooooooooooo choooooooowoooooooooooTHE SOUND OF TIME BEING SUCKED OUT OF MY DAY scwhoooooooooowhooooooYUP, THERE WENT MY SUNDAY AFTERNOONwoooooooooooooooo AND NOW MY MONDAY MORNINGscchhhhhwooooooooooooooooooooooo AND aw, hell, I think this was a mistake. Because this is wayyyy more addictive than myspace, and although I don’t get most of it yet, I get enough of it to want to learn more. They done hooked me, like a fish. I would still be on it now, I would have done it all night, if my husband hadn’t shamed me off the computer with the old “It’s a beautiful day outside” routine.

Somebody warned me, when I mentioned that I was considering joining this crack cocaine of the internet, that I would regret it because every single person I have ever known from the beginning of time would be on there and friending me and poking me and commenting on my wall and all of this nonsense. Like, people I went to elementary school with. And I was all – uh-huh, well, so what? I can ignore them, right? I mean, no one is forcing me to talk to these people who are strangers to me after all of these years?

Sigh. At least I’m feeling young again. It’s been a long time since someone had to tell me to go outside and play, it’s a beautiful day, for God’s sake. And don’t forget your sweater.

And come home when the streetlights come on, or you're grounded!