Social Media

     I attended a lecture dealing with social media today. It led me to thinking about my own dealings with that form of communication, better known to some as FACEBOOK. "Social Media"...a fun place to make new friends.  All I can say is, that while I may have somehow added 5000 people to my so called "friends" list, most of whom I will probably never meet, share a meal or even a hug with,  I can barely count on my two hands  the number of real friends I have left in this world. For that, I give much thanks to the magic of FACEBOOK. You see, back in the "Old days" (about 6 years ago) I might have an argument with my friend in the bar. We might yell at each other and go home for the night and forget about it until the next day. I would then proceed to call my friend, after we had sobered up, and we would laugh about the silly madness from the night before. We would end the PHONE call with a friendly "see you soon" and make a plan to see one another next weekend… but not anymore! Nope, now those same two friends go home and plop down in front of a computer screen, while they are still drunk and angry. They will fire up the old KEYBOARD OF COURAGE and proceed to spew out several paragraphs of evil, vile, hateful messages that will never ever go away, ever. There will be traces left of the message all over cyberspace for the next twenty years.  There will be no laughing about it tomorrow. There will be no apology the next morning. There will be only spiteful retaliation once their phone starts vibrating with messages from so called “page stalkers” who sit on FACEBOOK all day surfing for drama. "OMG, have you seen so and so's Facebook? I'm sure it's about you!" They pretend to be your concerned friend, when all they really want is to sit at home and watch more drama unfold on their lap top when you are forced to go on FACEBOOK and respond! Then what will happen? Block...Delete...good bye "real" friend...as you say to yourself, “Well, now I have room to add a new FAKEBOOK FRIEND....hmmmmm shall it be "Riding Dirty 420" or maybe "I like blondes 69"? The excitement of  social media can be overwhelming at times… FACEBOOK, the loneliest group of friends on the planet.