I was on Facebook earlier today, and suddenly realized just how much our world has changed with all this social media that we have nowadays. For example, when I logged into my account, it "suggested" a friend that I haven't connected with in years..amazing! However, what has happened is that social media has effectively redefined certain words to fit this new "social" context, but the perception of those words, at least for us that are over 30, still remains. Want an example? Lets take the Facebook term "friends". In Facebook world, this means "anyone, real or imagined, that you may or may not have met and have an actual relationship with". Even with this definition, I can't get over the "weirdness" of being told electronically "You are now friends with this person", when I've known them all my life! And the way it is represented, it almost makes you sound like some kind of social outcast-"Hooray! You have made a friend! We didn't think you could!". And nobody in the "webpage development" part of Facebook has apparently realized the incongruous suggestion of "people you also might know" to request as "friends". Umm..If you already know someone, doesn't that make them a..friend?
Another peculiarity of social media is that it has become so inclusive, that Facebook has started "suggesting" friends for increasingly bizarre reasons. I know that there is a probability that if you know person x, then you might know person y. Or if you went to some college, you might know other people that went to that same college, I get all that. But have you noticed that Facebook never suggests you be friends with anyone really cool, like an astronaut, professional athlete,Supreme Court justice, people like that. No, you just get an unending stream of people based upon the fact that they are the second-cousin of someone that has a job similar to mine in East Elbonia. Now, admit it, have you ever looked at any of the profiles of the suggested, possible "friends" and rejected them purely on profile picture? I found myself doing that just the other day: looking at these profile pictures and making uninformed (and probably quite cynical) judgements of people I don't know. "This one looks like one of those "update-status-every-15-seconds" type because she has a picture of her feet, that one is one of those "all-I-can-talk-about-is-skiing" because it just shows his nose and half of his ski goggles, that one is obsessed with her "perfect" children because of the Olan Mills style picture of them, here's one of those "hipster" types because their profile is an old camera (or a picture of food, if you want to change it up). Speaking of pictures, another big thing on Instagram and twitter is for you to ask people to "follow" you. I'm sorry, but to me, "following" someone is something that can get you arrested for harassment in all 50 states. And I'm not going to intentionally ask someone to follow me, that would just be weird, or creepy, or both, I don't care how many cute cat videos I post! So, if you're reading this, and are struck by an insane desire to "follow" me, do so. I'll try to remember that you mean it in the most harmless, "social media definition" kind of way.
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