Keeping up on Facebook

A neighbor of mine mentioned that her daughter went to a birthday party a week or so ago and since her husband picked the girl up she didn’t know that her daughter had ridden a horse at the party.

Until she saw the picture on Facebook.

The day we had snow in Hickory, John stepped out of work during his lunch break and took a picture of it with his phone and sent it to Brittany in Charleston with the text “we’ve got snow!”

She replied, “I heard that from my Hickory friends on Facebook 2 hours ago!”

The other night I debated about staying up (or getting up) for the lunar eclipse. I didn’t and the next morning when I saw about 12 comments on Facebook that people couldn’t see anything here because it was cloudy, I was both glad I hadn’t and also glad I knew that I had made the wise choice.

Several Christmas cards this year had very familiar pictures in them. (Yup, I saw them the minute they were taken because they had been posted on Facebook!)

Much of the news in the Christmas letter was familiar too, because whether the person lives in Alaska, Seattle or my home town, Chicago, I “was there” when it happened! (Thanks to Facebook.)

This year I’ve heard right away when old friend’s parents died, (too many!) been there through illnesses and surgery, several births, new job announcements and kids’ graduations. I know what my friends’ houses look like, even if I’ve never been to their town, I know what their kids look like, even if I haven’t seen those friends since we were in high school, and I even know their hopes and dreams.

Some may think Facebook has shrunk people’s worlds because they “spend so much time at the computer”, but it’s expanded mine!

For all the talk about people wasting hours at a time glued to a computer screen instead of getting out and experiencing life, I have to counter that modern technology has expanded my social connections in more ways than I ever could have imagined. I would even venture to argue that it has helped create some “extra” time to enjoy special moments in new ways with those that I love.