Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Friends, Facebook and the Good ol' Days

I have been on Facebook for about two months now, after much procrastination. I viewed social networking as a tool used by twenty-somethings and teenagers. Fortunately and unfortunately it has become a lifeline to staying involved in the lives of my closest friends. We can "chat" everyday but I remember much simpler, more personal times.

When I was growing up, my parents friends would just "drop in" to spend time together. There was no appointment necessary. No sports schedules , homework or meetings to work around (even though we had all those things then too). If we weren't home they'd just stop by again.

And if the house was a mess? SO WHAT!!! That was just the condition our family was in that day and no one seemed to mind......not even my mom(something I did not inherit). There was no extravagant dinner, fancy dessert, or even coffee if you can imagine...just people co-existing in our slice of life.

Yes, I have a cell phone, I'm on Facebook and now even blogging. Technology is great but are these things necessary? My mom used to love to get out of the house to "get away from the phone" and now we carry them everywhere, complain about how expensive they are, but just can't seem to turn them off or heaven forbid, leave them at home. I just wish we could get that "stop by anytime!" mentality back into our culture, if not culture, maybe just in my life. With my friends.

It's not a wonder the "love thy neighbor" concept is lacking in today's society. Everything is done so quickly; a text, the "I only have a minute" phone call, IM, email-so impersonal.

I long for the spontaneity of "dropping in" on a friend, just because I thought of them. Writing in a paper-filled journal. Talking face to face, seeing excitement, laughter, sadness....expression on the face of my friend.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0E7B1703E2190B00

2 comments:

Heather of the EO said...

I could not agree more! I think about this nearly every day. Our pace of life is so draining. Then we have little to know actual contact with many of the people we "love." It's so strange. And we're so used to it already.
I often fantasize about sitting around in real life with all these bloggy people, for all the reasons you mentioned - like SEEING them :)
Great post!

Jessica Stock said...

I so agree with you, Betty! I think that moms especially are drawn to blogging in an effort to find the community that no longer exists for moms! Women used to spend their days together, working together, or just dropping in . . . it seems like we're all so afraid and like you said just too busy but lonely. I hate it.