Connected

If you follow this post you know my girls set me up on Facebook over the Thanksgiving break. This connecting me to the world of cyber-relationships has been both a bother and an eye-opener.

1. Blackberry's are not designed to be efficient in Facebooking. Oh, you get the notices of people befriending, you get notices of chatter back and forth. You can even send a response. What you can't do is read it because the font is too small! My bride and I spend enough time passing assembly instructions, prescription directions, ad small print, etc back and forth and saying.."Can you read this?" Neither of us can, so we guess at a large part of the informational age. I am just a little jealous of my son-in-law's I-pad. Huge print, easy to read. However, it does look like the equivalent of those giant pencils and Red Chief notebooks we used in first grade.

2. Where the heck did my quiet, strongly introverted bride get all these friends?!? Some of them are probably work associates, some are probably church people who don't like me but like her (far more common than you would imagine) some might be yoga pals, college chums. Who knows? But because she and I are linked (Facebook wise) I get to wade around in all their lives. But there are tons of them!

3. What is up with the "like" designation. Does this mean we agree? Does it mean that the entry has some significance? Does it mean that I now have to formulate an opinion about it? Should I comment? Should I tell them when I don't "like" their inane comment? What is the protocol. In real life (not cyber life) I can call someones hand on a stupid comment, I can argue, I can close the conversation. Who cares if I "like" your comment, or if you "like" mine. By the way, if you don't like mine it means you are not quite cerebral enough or knowledgeable enough or in-crowd enough to get it.

4. And here is the real observation. My generation feels that all this cyber-relational stuff is going to stunt our children and grandchildren. That this new conversational construct will harm us all in some way. I felt that way. This past month has changed my mind. I am able to keep up with folks that I used to never speak to, or at least only occasionally. Now I know when their kids are sick, or hurting, or accomplished. Now I can tell when the other shoe has dropped. Now I know when to pick up the phone and call, instead of hearing months later that an old friend could use an encouraging word. This new level of relational connection has shrunk the globe and the clock to a manageable proportion. The communities that will be truly efficient in caring for the inhabitants of that community will embrace this new world. Some of us who are older will do so slower and with a considerable amount of grumbling, but we will do it.

By the way, I still enjoy a good phone visit.

Godspeed to all you cyber-relationalists, stay in touch.
Don