Facebook Schmacebook

I admit it. I couldn't hang with Facebook.

It started out OK; I found some people I hadn't spoken to in years, and saw photos of weddings and babies and read posts, and it was cool. But then came the Friend Adds from people I didn't necessarily want to talk to again. It's not that I don't like them or anything silly like that, it's just that these are people from my past who I prefer to stay there. And I didn't figure out all the privacy settings before it was too late.

I'm being totally neurotic about this, I know. But I'm pretty different from who I was when I knew many of these people, and I think I can safely assume the same is true for them. They are strangers to me now, but worse. They have an impression of me from many years ago, and I of them. So both parties will be trying to reconcile the old memories with the more recent versions in the posted photos and bios, and, at times, old impressions are difficult for some to break. If you do talk to each other, most of the time you end up rehashing the old crap after you get through a few rounds of "What are you up to these days?" and other awkward variations on smalltalk. And if they so choose, all your Facebook Friends (and their Friends) can see it! (Direct messages aside.) Ugh.

At least I'm consistent. I don't do reunions either. Aren't those just big parties that devolve into mini reunions of the same old cliques? Yeah... no thanks.

Bottom line: I know who I know, and I tend to prefer the here and now to the past, even if it was fun. I'm cool with running into someone on the street. In fact, I find that infinitely more gratifying than clicking Add As A Friend, but my preference is that the past stays right where I left it.