I've had a Facebook account for years. Since the beginning of the internet practically. Though my FB page sat dormant until recently, when I received a few "Friend Requests".
I quickly accepted, because who doesn't need more "friends"?
A few of the folks I "friended" were old classmates. Which was all well and good. I kind of enjoyed watching their "status updates" and discovering where life had taken them. Occasionally, I "commented" on their "status" or on their "photos" and felt like we had a rapport, where there had been none in the hallowed halls of the BURNING HELLFIRE that is called high school.
But then I started realizing that there was a huge contingent of my high school acquaintances on Facebook who had NOT sent me "friend requests". I would see them commenting on my "friends'" Facebook entries and notice that they still insisted on using the same nicknames that flew like pesky swallows around stuffy classrooms and ricocheted off the lockers at lunch. Glimmer. Deter. Squash.
And I threw up in my mouth a little. Then I swore to J. and whomever else would listen that I was DONE with Facebook. That it made me too queasy. That it made me feel like a fifteen-year-old again, worrying about why I had no nickname and about who hadn't "friended" me. Because, if they didn't "friend" me, I certainly was NOT about "friend" THEM.
Yeah, totally stupid.
My Facebook hiatus lasted about 12 hours. I started in again, rationalizing that I would just check Facebook once a day and if I saw a comment from high school UNfriends and they utilized any nicknames whatsoever, I would avert my eyes and rapidly scroll down the page.
That didn't work either.
I am FASCINATED with Facebook. The roiling cauldron of people from my past and present is too bizarre to ignore.
So here I am, back where I started. An FB junkie. And not at all happy about it.
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It hasn't captured me yet, but...I can see how it would be a guilty pleasure, yet not a pleasure. I haven't found anyone from my past yet, but haven't looked. But, for trying to find someone it beats those others- like Classmates, etc. I sound ambivalent, don't I?
Posted by: JCK | November 29, 2008 at 10:15 PM
I have conflicting feelings myself. It has brought me back in touch with two high school friends, one of whom I've become very close with and e-mail back and forth with all the time. But in general it just makes me feel kind of weird and there are just things I'd really rather not know. I have limited myself to checking it once a week or less!
Posted by: Ally | November 29, 2008 at 11:07 PM
It is so just like HS! Several of my old classmates still post photos of themselves getting all drunk and such. Current photos.
I know what you mean. It's like a trainwreck. Can't look away.
Posted by: Nora Bee | November 29, 2008 at 11:11 PM
I'm with you. More than you know. I was delighted to catch up with a few girlfriends and now, oh my gosh, I'm remembering why I forgot so much. I'll take my girlfriends for $300 and leave, Alex. But I can't... because my Farm needs me. And my House, and my Entourage. I'm Leanne Wildermuth, and I'm addicted to Facebook.
(wanna be my friend?)
Posted by: Leanne | November 30, 2008 at 05:12 AM
I am So with you on that. I love/hate Facebook, too!!! IS there a meeting somewhere??
Posted by: vodkamom | November 30, 2008 at 05:26 AM
Yep, I am right there with y'all... it's really annoying, isn't it? But I cannot look away.
Posted by: jenn | November 30, 2008 at 06:35 AM
Same here. I swore off it for all of 24 hours. I dare you to send friend requests to everyone you ever knew in high school....then the ball is in their court and you are the awesome person! I have friends on my list who I don't talk to or message or chat or wall to wall or any of that. They are just there, and I am fully ok with it (and vice versa). Occasionally I sneak a look at their pics and rejoice that I am cuter. Haha.
On the other hand, one of my first friends on FB was a guy I met in the early 90s in Europe, he was a very young Australian. He grew up to be very HAWT as the interweb would say. I didn't stalk him or anything, but I noticed that he had removed himself from my list and that makes me sad. I even re-asked him to be friends....but no. That is the silly stuff that makes me nuts.
Posted by: Leslie | November 30, 2008 at 07:33 AM
I kinda like Facebook. I joined just recently, and while I'm not an addict, I think it's pretty fun. There does seem to be some of that old cliquishness you referred to, but for some reason, it just doesn't bother me now. Did you include your maiden name? It could be your old classmates just don't know who you are? I've had some pretty obscure friend requests, but I'll add anybody (desperate much?)!
Posted by: Rachel | November 30, 2008 at 07:53 AM
Facebook makes me feel like I'm spying. I feel a little greasy after a Facebook session. Maybe I'm not doing it right...
Posted by: Chris | November 30, 2008 at 08:39 AM
I have a love/hate relationship with FB too. My school was so clique-ey and when I see people from groups that I didn't socialize with commenting on people's status that I was friends with, it STILL makes me mad. For like five seconds and then I realize that we're like, um, THIRTY now.
So silly.
Posted by: Pocklock | November 30, 2008 at 09:56 AM
I'm addicted to facebook, I have to admit that. But it does bring up bad feelings sometimes- the ex-boyfriend with whom you thought you were on okay terms who ignored the request, people who you're so glad to see who add you as a friend, but then don't reply to messages you send trying to catch up. But those people are the minority, thankfully, and I have been able to reconnect with a lot of great people and see what old friends are up to.
I still spend WAY too much time there though. It's a problem.
Posted by: Carrie | November 30, 2008 at 12:57 PM
I wasn't even thinking about Facebook until just now. Ugh! Gotta go take just a peek.
Posted by: Heidi | November 30, 2008 at 02:14 PM
I like it and yet, I just got rid of most of my H.S. "friends" for the very reason that they are not really my friends and they rarely wrote or commented or even said anything I cared to read about. So, they be gone. I have tried to keep facebook for my real friends and family and a few select others. And I have not had any issues this way, at least yet. i still have over 100 Friends this way, but the vast majority are relatives and extended family.
Posted by: inthefastlane | November 30, 2008 at 04:18 PM
My boss "friended me" on Facebook. I had to quit my job just to defriend her. Lol.
I started a post like this with the exact same title. It is a love/hate relationship but mostly its one born from sheer laziness. I can touch bases with everyone I know in minutes. Who doesn't love that?
Posted by: Giyen | November 30, 2008 at 07:48 PM
I haven't seen much of the dark & seedy side of facebook, although I know it must be out there. (About the time my oldest heads off to college and I start seeing pics of him with a beer in his hand, maybe?)
My craziness is that I have people on there from all different aspects of my life and it is starting to get confusing. I'm going to have to lump them into categories just to keep my head on straight.
Posted by: kcinnova | November 30, 2008 at 08:03 PM
Facebook kinda freaks me out a little. My daughter insisted I join so I could look at her photos, as she found it difficult to upload them to blogger.(?) So I joined, just the minimum, thanks...not much of a profile or anything. I have 4 blogs going, for crying out loud-I really don't need another time suck, thanks. Anyway, within about 3 hours I had 8 friend requests. It's like being chased by the paparazzi! And now, my daughter took her page down because SHE was getting requests from people she didn't want to be friends with. Sheesh!
Posted by: Cactus Petunia | November 30, 2008 at 09:46 PM
I like it well enough but I'm so tired of all the drinks requests, invitations etc. I'm not on the site often enough for all that and ignoring it makes me feel guilty then I get mad for feeling guilty.
Posted by: Melanie @ Mel,ADramatic Mommy | November 30, 2008 at 10:29 PM
I actually deleted my FB account because I was so irritated with it all. Note, though: you CAN'T delete your account. You DEACTIVATE it. And then, at the end of the week, when I came to my senses and wanted it back, they sent me a helpful little message to say, simply click here and you can have your page back. Sheesh!
Posted by: Janine | December 01, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Just wait until you are "de-friended" by someone you went to high school with. Those same feelings will come back! Oh, I can feel my face flushing with embarrassment over being "de-friended" by the guy who sat beside in home room for four years.
Posted by: Pez | December 01, 2008 at 01:37 PM
*sigh* Facebook. Known as crackbook in my house. I'm on there too...and my God. Do I waste so much time.
Posted by: Jess | December 01, 2008 at 04:13 PM
I, too, have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. Since I've been on it I've found my two childhood best friends and have kept in touch with them. It's also the only way I seem to be able to keep in touch with my aunt, one of the few (and by few I mean three) people who I keep in touch with on my mother's side. And don't even get me started on Scrabble - I am hopelessly addicted.
But...Facebook annoys me. I hate it when people request my friendship and then don't say A GODDAMN THING to me. I hate it when people request my friendship and then delete me with nary a word. I discovered about two weeks ago that my husband's cousin deleted both of us from her account - and not by accident, either - and you know...it's driving me crazy. Absolutely crazy.
Stupid Facebook.
Posted by: mamatulip | December 02, 2008 at 05:01 PM
i feel like a total stalker when i look at peoples' photos....but yet, i can't.stop.myself.
:)
Posted by: ali | December 03, 2008 at 09:16 AM