Facebook is fun..I'll admit it. If you just take it for what it is, entertainment, it is really no harm. I am "real friends" with some people who are adamantly against it. They will say things like "oh, I hated these people in high school, why would I want to be in touch with them now"? Or "I have no reason to be in touch with anybody that I am not currently in touch with". I can agree with their points as well though personally I never took it that seriously...until now.
It is a little ridiculous. I have more facebook friends than real life friends. If I sent each "friend" a request for some money, or called them to bail me out of jail..I wonder which ones would pull through. Probably about 2 or 3. They would of course be the ones that I categorize as my real life friends.
I have enjoyed facebook mainly because I don't just allow ANYONE to "friend me". I have received friend requests from people that I have no idea who they are, from people who only contacted me because we share the same last name but have never met, and from some people who are neither friends nor enemies, merely acquaintances. I pretty much hit the Ignore button when any of these people send me a request. If I have accepted your facebook friendship, consider yourself lucky. It means that I would like to be in contact with you..I do or at one time in my life cared about you. Maybe we lost touch just because we were geographically separated and got we self absorbed in our own lives. It's not a crime, just a fact of life. New people move in, old people move out.
But here's my latest issue (I know, I have a lot): I received a facebook friend request from one of my sister's former friends. (Notice, I didn't say she was MY friend, she maybe was nice to me because of my sister. But then again she was never NOT NICE to me). For the life of me I have no idea why she would send me a friend request. Wait, not one request, but 2. I hit the ignore button hoping she would just go away but then a week or so later I received another one. I don't necessary hate this person, but I don't feel like our friendship can be justified. She was friends with my sister...then she just kind of blew her off. I realize that with a friendship, there is no vow for richer or poorer, sickness or health, good times and bad, etc. However, I don't think friendship requires one it's just understood. Well, when times got bad..she just jumped ship and I think it's a crappy thing to do. Now, keep in mind..me and my sister didn't have the most wonderful relationship either. I have wished death upon her, well maybe not death but severe pain. In my younger years of life I would have been happy that a she got ditched by her friend. I would have gloated, I would have danced around the house so happy for her misery. My "sucks for you" smile would be so bright it would blind her. But that was then, this is now.
Back to the friendship: Can't facebook have an "acquaintance" category reserved for those who you don't really want to let back into your life but don't necessarily want to offend or completely reject? I mean, this person is in my community. I will probably run into her at some point. When this happens do I walk quickly past her avoiding eye contact because I didn't become her Facebook friend? What are my consequences for not friending her? Will Facebook people that we have in common start eliminating me from their friend list? Could it be more severe like having her turn the members of the PTA against me? Maybe my car will be identified at the super market and my tires will be slashed. Having the acquaintance section would make this process a whole lot easier. This person would never know that they were put in the "acquaintence category", they would just assume their friendship was accepted.
Anyway....just thinking out loud.
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