i resisted these lists at first, much like i initially did with facebook itself, but last night gave in and filled it out. i assume most people spend a fair amount of time writing these lists, stewing about how certain elements of the list will portray their personalities. i chose the first 25 things that came to my mind that i felt didn't elicit any sort of strong emotional response from anyone who's reading it. why? isn't that the point? not really. and i think sometimes people forget that.
facebook shouldn't replace friendships with close pals. it's about keeping track of people, having a place to connect on a social level, and about having a marketplace for information and an easy way to share it. i don't want everyone i went to high school with, plus 1/2 of my coworkers knowing my deepest, darkest secrets. i understand that some people use it as an outlet to share that information, but that's not me at all. and it frightens me that some people use it as a tool to bare their souls. even on this blog i'm careful to make sure nothing posted goes beyond anything i would say to someone's face, or have to answer to on a job interview. it's not a journal - it's a way for me to post stories that i think are appropriate for the general public to know. granted i probably have bared more than the usual person with some of my stories, but there's nothing in here that i wouldn't tell my grandma. (seriously, that's my barometer for posting.) i guess that puts me as a part of the paranoid generation who is not ok with having their whole lives posted on the internet. but some things should be kept personal. knowing more about a person is earned through honest connection: face-to-face or on a one-to-one level. not a status message. once again i suppose i'm climbing high on my soapbox, but i really hope this social networking trend fades out soon. i enjoy facebook as much as the next person, but when are people going to want to go back to coffee hangouts?