Aren’t I Too Old for this Kind of Thing?

Facebook, that is. Apparently not.

A friend from high school recently emailed that she’d joined Facebook. She’s an international athlete, and found it was a good way to stay connected to friends around the world.

I decided to test the waters, and have since found many, many friends who were already there, from all different parts of my life: family, former co-workers, neighbors, Philly friends, high-school classmates, and more. (Interestingly, no college classmates yet.)

I’m a bit overwhelmed by the scope of it, and the time-consuming possibilities. Remember back when google became a verb, because people looked up old friends? Facebook is like a school yearbook for the world. I’ve even gotten a friend request from someone I don’t know or can’t remember. What’s the etiquette for that? I may have bitten off more than I can chew, here.

9 Responses to “Aren’t I Too Old for this Kind of Thing?”

  1. Carrie K. Says:

    I just joined Facebook, too, and reconnected with a friend high school and college that I hadn’t spoken to in ages!

  2. carolyn Says:

    Fortunately I can’t access Facebook from work so I’m only on it once a month or so. :) if I can’t figure out who they are by asking like one other friend, then I refuse it. (of course I haven’t even managed to reply “yes” to yours yet!)

  3. weirleader Says:

    It’s funny that you mention this - I only joined up about six months ago, for reasons that now escape me. In the end, I enjoy “reconnecting” with former students or old high school acquaintances. I use the term ‘reconnect’ loosely, as my interactions mostly consist of adding said person to my friends list and then keeping a digital eye on their doings… there’s not a great deal of interacting. But then I think I like it that way. I just like having the option to contact them if, per se, I was in town and waxing nostalgic.

    Closer friends are more fun - but it’s too easy to waste time doing meaningless things.

    I will now proceed to add you as a friend (because I like to see how many people I can connect with) - feel free to decline if you wish… I won’t take offense! :-)

    …oh, and as for that person you don’t know - there are many who simply try to grow their lists seemingly at random. Just ignore them.

  4. SmallWorld Reads Says:

    Whatever you do, don’t get addicted to Scrabulous and Prolific on Facebook!! Not that I would know about such things, of course.

    When I get a friend request and can’t figure out who it is, I look at THEIR friends’ list. Sometimes that’ll jostle a memory.

    The other thing is that if that person has gmail, it could be that they plugged in their whole address book. I accidentally did that and I am so embarrassed about some of the virtual strangers with whom I am FB friends!

  5. Vince Tuss Says:

    I am there mainly for the Scrabble, but many of the people I know are creative enough with their updates that I end up keeping track.

    It’s also a sure-fire way, one-step way to send an e-mail to someone.

    Then there is reconnecting, which has been a pleasant surprise. Even with the one ex- so far.

  6. weirleader Says:

    a word of warning (mostly because of what SmallWorld mentioned above)… you shouldn’t give any 3rd party access to your mailing list if that means giving out your password.

    even a site you trust to not abuse it (e.g., Facebook) might be compromised by hackers and now you’re in trouble.

    hope I don’t sound lecturing - just trying to encourage on-line caution for all the regular readers.

  7. Kate Says:

    Yeah, I never accept a friend request from someone I don’t know. And sometimes I go through my friend list and if I was a little over exuberant in friending people, I’ll take them off my friend list (no, they don’t get a little notice tell them you don’t like them anymore!). There’s an article over at Slate on the ten commandments of Facebook. It’s humorous with some useful information.

  8. Sydney Says:

    My rule… if the name isn’t familiar, or I cannot come up with one good memory of that person, I ignore the friend request. Period. Sometimes I think that people load up on FB Friends to validate some insecurity on their part. Though, interestingly, my ex from college, Cute Kip just sent me a friend request this week. :)

    For you, it can be a great way to post pics of my perfect nephews just one time, inviting your friends and family to view them here for free…

  9. girldetective Says:

    I think it’s funny how I can never predict which posts will get comments and which will be quiet. This one obviously struck a nerve. I continue to be surprised by how many people I find there, and am curious to see how things will be in a few months once the novelty wears off for me.

    A recent article on the decline of blogging noted that FAcebook and others are like mini blogs, and I think there’s something to that–for many, why write an entry if a sentence and a picture will do?

    Me, I’ll keep writing till I run out of things to “say”.