I love Facebook, really I do. When I moved from Texas to Tennessee and had literally no friends, it enabled me to have a connection with people, even if only through cyberspace. It’s perfect for sharing good news. I love to hear of friends’ weddings, new babies, new houses, jobs, etc. I love all the birthday wishes I get through Facebook. I’ve witnessed the God’s healing through prayer via Facebook. But what about when the worst happens? Let’s say one of these beautiful lives I’m praying for loses her battle with cancer, or heart disease. I’ll find out through Facebook, I guess. It’s an effective way to impart information quickly to many people. What will be telling is how people will react to such news. What will they do? Will they continue to only have a relationship with someone through a device or will this news precipitate and action on their part?
My mother called me to inform me that a friend’s father had suddenly passed away this morning. A short time later I was on Facebook and discovered that before this man had been gone 6 hours, cyberspace is aflutter with news of his passing.
Curious, I looked at my friend’s Facebook wall and it was overflowing with condolence messages. I’m just not sure how I feel about that. Many of the messages were from people in my hometown. So, unlike me, who lives 500 miles away, people who she probably sees regularly are using Social Media to send condolences.
For all its usefulness, Facebook has made us enamored with ourselves, narcissistic even. When Steve Jobs died or Michael Jackson, or Osama bin Laden, it was as if there was a race as to who could be the first person to post this in his or her status. I know I’ve done it too (Casey Anthony and Amanda Knox).
Technology is great, but we shouldn’t lose our human connection to social media. Iphones, Computers, Droids, Blackberries and the like should enhance our relationships with people and not replace them.
So I choose not to write on my friend’s Facebook wall, today will write her a note.
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