Agebook

I got in a bit of a mood with Facebook this week.  It wasn't serious, it didn't last long and we've made it up now but I guess this is normal when you spend so much time together. I'm a big fan of only saying something if you have something worth saying, preferably something that will either amuse other people or have some kind of important relevance to somebody else.  Luckily the majority of my virtual friends are the same, or else they are hidden.  The thing that annoyed me particularly this week was regurgitated photos. Pictures that have already been posted 1/3/5 years ago do not need to be posted again - that is serious self-indulgence.  If somebody wants to re-look at something you have posted then they can have another poke through your photo albums, otherwise, bore off.

Hiding people on Facebook comes with its own perils however.  I was having a conversation with a colleague the other day about their ever-increasing minor health issues.  I was making the appropriate noises and asking the right questions and wondering why they were looking at me curiously.  'But of course you must have picked most of this up from Facebook', they said.  Oh.  Not so much.  I was friends with you for about two days before I hid your boring arse.  Cue serious backtracking and more convincing affirmative noises.

I always think it is time to un-hide somebody and delete them when you cross the road before they see you to avoid speaking to them.  This happened to me last week as I decided that Lady X was probably somebody I could do without in my virtual environment if I couldn't bear to exchange a few pleasantries in the flesh.

I wonder what the future holds for Facebook.  It is definitely the social media of choice for our age group.  I have a few friends who have their teenage children on Facebook which must be a comfort for them.  It is a shame that the aforementioned teenage children never actually post anything on there and use every other social media site to actually communicate with their peers instead!  I rejected a friend request from my father a few years ago on Facebook as I thought I swore too much to be friends with him.  He popped up again the other day though and as I seem slightly less controversial these days I felt sorry for his friendlessness and requested him.  Only to be completely rejected and darked out by his 74 year old self.  Who does he think he is?!

If Facebook continues to be rejected by the generations following ourselves, it does not promise to get any more interesting.  Selfies over the next few decades may start being taken over afternoon tea and at the opera; check-ins could eventually be in a stream of retirement properties and one day we will be flooded with millions of regurgitated pictures of grandchildren.  Damn it.  Here's hoping that some people decide to grow old disgracefully and share it with the virtual masses.  I am sure I will be at the front of that particular queue...