StephenWinbaum
Communications Coordinator
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Aug 31, 2009, 1:40 PM
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By Stephen Winbaum
I e-mailed a friend to invite him to join Facebook, and this is what he wrote:
“Hi Stephen, I'm keeping my distance from the whole social networking scene for now. Of course we can always keep in touch by e-mail. Hope you're have a great summer.”
His response struck a chord . . . 'keeping a distance' seemed like a good idea considering the many hours I spend on Facebook creating new profile pages, chasing after other people's messages, answering mail from well-meaning friends, staying up late and coming into work mildly hung over.
So I wrote back: “I do a lot of social networking. Sometimes I get a lot out of it. Other times it's very time consuming and obsessive. I'm curious why you're keeping your distance.”
His answer was simple: “I spend too much time in front of a computer as it is . . . plus, privacy issues still seem to be a concern with these social networking sites.”
It seemed so simple . . . no social networking, just go back to good old e-mail. But could I do it? No! E-mail appeared ancient compared to social networking; like reading a daily paper compared to online news. Plus, the advantages of Facebook are incredible, including the ability to change my profile picture and status line at will, then embed thematic videos and upload Google images. I can have the equivalent of a new personal website every hour, every day . . .
And yet the simplicity of my friend's message was alluring: “I spend too much time in front of a computer as it is . . .” Clearly there has to be a middle road, but for some people, like me, there isn't. It’s not just the number of hours I can spend on Facebook, it's the sense of excitement fused with the nausea of information overload when a networking session intended for a few minutes twists into a marathon of hours.
I don’t think I’m unique as Boomers go in my Facebook habits. The average age of Facebook users is growing as the older crowd discovers the advantages of communicating through Facebook, the grandiosity, and democratization of the media as users post their own news stories for comments from friends.
But, as op-ed writers have made clear this democratization and loss of stature for the professional media has its consequences. A boomer friend of mine who reads voluminously confided in me: 'People don't read anymore'. And when I asked him why, he said: 'They're on Facebook all the time.' It's no secret that the Internet has dumbed down society. Why? Because there's too much information with 24 hour online news, e-mail, Googling and now Facebook.
Facebook is insidious because even as I write this piece I can't wait to get back to it and consult with my Boomer friends, change my status picture and profile, embed a new video and upload a Google image. Even a naive IT person like me can figure out how to make the Facebook magic work.
“I spend too much time in front of a computer as it is. . .” Why couldn’t that be a simple answer for Facebook?
Stephen Winbaum is the Communications Coordinator of RetirementHomes.com.
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(This post was edited by StephenWinbaum on Sep 1, 2009, 6:52 AM)
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