Facebook, Family and Friends

By nature, I don’t consider myself a stalker.  I’d like to believe that I respect people’s privacy and that I have excellent boundaries about personal space.  However each time I log on to Facebook, I am taunted with gossip-bytes from friends, family and even family of friends, (which I have no idea how they appear on my not-so-news-worthy feed.)

Sure I can ignore the sidebar, but I would have to have blinders on not to take an interest in that cute little puppy that Marybeth just rescued from the pound.  Who wouldn’t click on the link to see more about that story?

And look, I haven’t connected with Marty in a while.  So nice of Facebook to notice.  Turns out Marty is an arrogant boar but since Facebook suggested that I give him a shoutout, it actually gives me pause to consider some of his finer qualities.

In a silly play on irony I gave up watching the evening news or reading the morning paper more than a dozen years ago (and I have enjoyed a life, albeit a bit less informed, that is decidedly free of media hype and propaganda) however in the last year, I have found myself drawn in to this new age of voyeurism through the guise of social networking.  Point blank, I read the “newsfeed” and enjoy the commentary by people who give their thumbs up or one of a thousand emoticon-acronyms.  Much like in my youth I would rush home to watch the latest episode of Days of Our Lives, my Bo and Hope have now been replaced by hundreds of new cast members who are breaking up, making out, seeking comfort, or proselytizing their latest cause-of-the-day.

There are some that would argue the point that our internet relationships are somehow less “real”.  That we can’t possibly know if someone is portraying themselves in a true light and we should not spend so much time invested in reaching out and touching someone that we really don’t “know”.  I would counter that we really don’t know anyone else outside of our filtered perception of who they are in our own story of life.

Perhaps because of my unique hermitage coupled with my tendency for story-telling/stand-up comedian … I find that my social networking peeps are perhaps some of the most rewarding relationships or storylines as the case may be.  For me these people scattered around the world are my community, my sangha, my muse and my soap opera in which I now can be one of the cast members in this larger than life lila.