My wife, Julie and I were sitting down to dinner several months ago when I opened our usual evening conversation with, “I think I’ll try to “FRIEND” the kids on their Facebook (Kids: 33, 30, 28). Julie just looked at me like I had totally lost my mind and said something along the lines of, “yeah, right, like the kids are going to friend you and let you see what they are REALLY doing with their lives.
All three kids “FRIENDED” me! Oh the wonders of technology. Now I could be what we used to call “the fly on the wall”. Most of what I saw was of no surprise. Some things I was happy to learn, and quite a few things that come under the heading of TMI (Too Much Information). Actually I’ve enjoyed seeing what they aer doing and even joining in on some of the fun on line.
So now Julie and I sit down at the dinner table and we tell each other about our day and it comes pretty much down to OK and what are the kids up to?
After several weeks of telling Julie what the kids are up too I suggested that she should get her own facebook account so she could friend the kids and I wouldn’t have to tell her everything or show her everything. Julie insisted that she did not want a facebook account because then people would want to friend her and she doesn’t want to friend anybody, just see what the kids are doing.
No mater what I said there was no convincing the woman that I love to get her own facebook account. However, Julie had a solution in mind and said… “what is your password?”
What the hell was I thinking? Or not thinking? I gave my wife my facebook password!
Two days have passed and so far so good, Julie hasn’t said a word about facebook. Day 3, dinner on the table, we’re eating quietly when Julie asks, “Do you really know ALL 288 friends that you have on facebook?”
Day 4, dinner on the table, we’re eating quietly when Julie says, “who cares if so-and-so is getting a manicure, who cares if someone is taking a bubble bath, who cares if they are standing in a line at Starbucks waiting to order their coffee?” So I explained “filtering” and “ignoring the bullshit”.
Day 5, dinner on the table, we’re eating quietly when Julie says, “Some of your 288 facebook friends are real idiots! Who are these people and have the been allowed to reproduce? You know some really stupid people”.
Day 6, dinner on the table, we’re eating quietly when Julie pulls out a piece of notebook paper and written upon it is a list of names. Julie hands it to me. I said what is this? Julie responded, “I want you to UNfriend these people!” I said Julie, theeare MY friends! You DON’T tell me who to be friends with! Julie sat their calmly and explained to me that these people were too stupid to be my friends and that I should UNfriend them before I become stupid too!
Day 7, dinner on the table, we’re eating quietly when I say to Julie, “My love, its time to get your OWN facebook account.