I now have my feet firmly planted in the information age--I have a Facebook page. Anna's had one for a while now, and she's told me several times that it is a worthwhile pursuit that has allowed her to connect with several people she hasn't seen in years. True to her word, within a few hours of having a Facebook page, I was able to get in touch with several people I hadn't seen in a while. It's exciting, first because I'm glad to catch up with people that I haven't seen in a while, and second because it allows Anna and me to have another forum to share Addie and what a blessing she's been. It's a great forum for pictures, but apparently, it can lead to trouble.
It seems that my dad, after being sent a link to Anna's Facebook page to view pictures of Addie's nursery, set up a Facebook account against his will. Anna, my brother (who originally recounted the tale), and I have been trying to forensically determined how my father, a well-educated successful attorney, could somehow follow a simple link and then walk away with a Facebook account. The best thing is not just that my dad somehow ended up with an account, but he invited everyone in his address book to be his friend. My dad tried to foist the responsibility of creating the account to Anna, telling my brother that Anna had told him that he had to set up a Facebook account to view the pictures. While absolutely wrong in this assertion, my dad did make me realize that he cannot outpace me when it comes to technology.
So now, I have an account. The only catch with Facebook is that I feel a little bit like Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer when I'm logged in: "Your honor, I'm just a caveman. I don't understand this 'writing on your wall,' adding friends, and updating my status. The bright light of the computer screen frightens and confuses me." I normally don't feel behind the curve when it comes to technology. I work with computers, and I'm pretty gadget oriented in general. But somehow, I've allowed myself to become a social networking Luddite. I'm slowly catching up, though. However, my late entry in Facebookdom has allowed me to observe some devious goings on that I now feel obligated to expose.
Coming into the game late, I can clearly see that Facebook is rife with blatant friend whoring. What is friend whoring you ask? Well, it's when somebody requests to be friends with everyone they've ever known, even if the relationship was superficial, or blatantly full of animosity. Case in point, a friend of mine (who will remain nameless) just recently received a friend request from a a former classmate that my friend has stated--on multiple occasions--is his nemesis. To quote my friend, "My nemesis friending me - what was I supposed to do? Should I have ignored his friend request?" That is the true question. Should the friend whore be called out on his behavior so that he will perhaps be shamed into no longer sending friend requests to everyone, including the person he sat next to at a stoplight? I have yet to be faced directly by a blatant attempt to increase one's friend count--all of the friend requests I have received are legitimate. But beware friend whores! I will not allow you to continue with your nefarious schemes! You are now on notice!
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