Facebook for Generation -"Whatever the Heck I Am."

There are two types of people that use Facebook:
1. The younger set that take 489 photos of themselves and friends by sticking the camera above their heads and smiling
2. And people over 30.

And like many other ageist thoughts I have about young people, I don’t quite think they get the full benefit on Facebook. I mean, they’re showing current photos. Of themselves. To people who see them like that every day. How is that fun? You have to either post photos of yourself 18 years ago, or of yourself now so people who knew you 18 years ago can laugh, cry or be glad they didn’t end up with you. You may think they want to see photos of your kids, dogs, cats, new dining room table, etc. But they don’t. Unless they didn’t end up with you, then they want to see those photos so they’d know what their kids, dogs, cats and dining room tables would have looked like, had you stayed together. I, myself, was freaked out by the eighth grade photos of the children of a guy I liked when we were in eighth grade. It really is scary.

But no matter what my cynical wit may suggest, Facebook for the 30+ group is really amazing. It’s better and Cheaper (until they start charging for it) than therapy. You have a chance to contact people you lost touch with and maybe even still have misunderstandings or grudges with, and clean them up. Nothing feels better than contacting a person you dated 15 years ago who dumped you only to hear their 50 year old self say they had been an a—hole. What? It wasn’t me? Or that guy you obsessed about for 20 years- is not just a dad and bald. Lay that one to rest.

But on an up note, I have reconnected with people I have loved, who were influential in my life, and found little pieces of me again, that I had let go. I reconnected with the funniest person in college and stayed with her in Washington DC. She has the cutest kids ever and was as wonderful as ever. I reconnected with another old friend and stayed with her in Sundance (yes, Facebook causes travel). I found old crushes, old buddies, people telling me they always believed in me, and who know me very well, because some things just never changed. My friend reconnected with an old high school love who never forgot her and he moved here to be with her. I even was contacted by my (now 80 year old) 5th grade teacher, who has been contacted by everyone else she taught and wondered where I was- the amazing spirit and writer. If your 80 year-old 5th grade teacher remembers you, you can certainly pull up your pants and puff up your chest. You’re a hot shot now.

Yes, youngsters, I get how wonderful it is to post those handheld 590 photos of you looking hot. I myself blush, since I taught some of you when you were really young and have to see those photos now, but perhaps that’s how my 80 year old ex fifth grade teacher thinks of me. “Beverly, you’re only 11. Stop being so gosh darn sexy!”

So take a chance, look up that person who made a difference for good or bad, in your life. Face the “bad ones” from the point of view of the adult you are now, thank the “good” ones for all they’ve done. Give a piece of themselves back to the people who really made you who you are.

And then you can give them a chicken bone from Farmville.