I now have a Facebook account.*
Until recently I had no intention of joining Facebook. I don't need one more thing to learn about, keep track of, or give my time over to.
But this fall I started hearing less and less from my sons, who no longer live within walking distance of each other in Boston but now live on opposite sides of the continent. The irony is that when both of them were in Boston I not only heard directly from each of them more regularly through phone calls and emails, but I would also hear from one what the other one was doing. It was great. I was in the loop.
This summer when Ken was in the hospital the guys called at least once a day and responded to my emails. Once Ken was home, and when P first moved to California, we still got regular updates from them and responses when we called or emailed.
Then things shifted this fall. Life settled down, routines fell into place, normalcy reigned.
Contact suffered with T in Boston and P on the west coast. The unspoken message: Life is good! Life is busy! Don't worry about me! I'm fine!
And I realized that I wasn't hearing about what was going on in their lives. I wasn't missing just the exciting news but the everyday events that make up daily life, too.
I missed my sons. I missed knowing what they were up to.
So I joined Facebook. My daughter got me started. To my sons' credit, they both friended me.
Now I can read what P posts on his "wall," about work or the weather or sports.
Now I know that T's CANstruction "Beantown Pineapple" won an award.
Facebook doesn't take the place of phone calls and emails, which I still look forward to and hope will continue for years to come.
Facebook does give me a chance to fill in the spaces of the days in between.
* If you find me on Facebook and want to hook up, I will "friend" people who ask.
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8 comments:
I know what you mean about Facebook filling in the gaps between phone calls and emails. I use it that way as well with my two grown kids. Then it gets to be somewhat of a time robber and rather addictive. Sounds like you'll have a grip on the reigns however.
Good luck!
Ooohhh ! You are an intrepid soul! If I join Facebook someday I will definitely give you a holler!
Sharon! The next thing we know, you'll be tweeting ;)
Sharon, I'm right with you on that. I just joined Facebook, too, realizing that many people are foregoing their usual more-informative and chatty e-mails with me in lieu of posting their info on Facebook.
All of my sons have "friended" me, too, which makes me happy!
I consider all my technological ventures as "works in progress." I need to download a picture of myself and do more links to my Facebook page. I feel that I have way too many irons in the fire right now, and even my kids are telling me how quickly their days and weeks fly by. Wow! I don't remember feeling that way as a kid.
How funny. I am also prehistoric in the sense that I am not on Facebook. Maybe one day, I too will join.
I joined FB for the same reason Sharon. Two boys living hundreds of miles away and somehow now it's not just the phone that stays silent, emails don't get answered right away either. Email is not what it was for staying in touch--they check their iPhone or Blackberry for messages and read the first line, I've found. So like you I see more of my kids on FB than anywhere else these days.
You are riding the trend in good company (my mom joined recently too!). The fastest growing Facebook demographic is women over age 55, and as of March, thre were slightly more members between the ages of 45 and 65 than there are 13-to 17-year-olds (http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/03/facebook-isyour/). I think the technology lags always seem to catch up with us first the internet, then email, now Facebook. Its an interesting study on how people communicate...and very handy too if you're trying to communicate with a large group. Just today I was able to post an event that Facebook will keep track of for me, so I don't have to tally RSVPs and figure out who's coming/who's not coming etc...lots of little applications to make life easy, and keep track of each other. And, yup, there are games too, if you like ;-)
I know what you mean… my daughters still live at home, but I learn more about their lives (especially my youngest who is a senior in HS and super busy) than I do in the rare and precious real life conversations we have.
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