I started with Friendster and I was forever hooked with social networking. It was just the right timing. I was in a remote city, first time away from my parents and loved-ones. I needed to be connected. Not that my parents are techy. They are even the exact opposite of it. My yearning to be connected stemmed from a lack of a list of things to do, simply put.
Years after, when Facebook was created, I didn’t think it would be a tough competition to Friendster but eventually almost everyone I know migrated to Facebook! You cannot believe how many are into Facebook now. According to current statistics, there are 27,720,300 Facebook users in the Philippines, which makes it #8 in the ranking of all Facebook statistics by country.
I don’t know who introduced what to whom but my boys have their own accounts. But I take the blame. It’s my fault, entirely. A home that’s DSL and Wi-fi ready? What else can they do but use it, right? Plus they see their mom taking time on the pc, uploading pictures, sharing links and updating my status…
When games and applications came about, the HOURS I spent planting and harvesting my crops in Farmville! It became ridiculous when I would hurry back home because I didn’t want my crops to wither?! I know of some people who could relate to this. Especially the ones who give me gifts and water my crops when I am away, that means, when I am not online. I would be clicking and clicking and asking myself…. “What the hell am I doing?!” I knew right then that I had to stop. No more apps for me. So Facebook friends, no more game invitations for me, please. I hope you understand.
There was this amusing facebook link which said: “You want to earn easy money? There are three easy steps : 1.) Log-out facebook 2.) Turn laptop off 3.) Get up from your chair. LOL! I also feel my thighs and hips have become slightly bigger from all that sitting. My doctor partner even warned me about the symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I just know that I already have it. It’s a pain you feel in your hand because it stayed in one position for a long period of time.
There are numerous benefits having Facebook. I got the chance to see my classmates on all levels including Kindergarten. One grade school classmate relayed a memory he has of me. He was crying in class and I told him to stop because if he doesn’t his eyes will shrink. At least that’s how I translate it to English. He found what I said funny so he laughed. He laughed hard he had to cover his nose and you could probably guess why. I am elated to learn something about myself or how I acted when I was a child.
Then came the never-ending supply of class or batch reunions!!! I became hungry for news of my close buddies in high school. The ones I sat beside in class, the person who got me in trouble because we talked and talked while our teacher is desperately trying to get the attention of some ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) students. Maybe now, we can be diagnosed as having this disorder. Haha!
One problem I see with people so engrossed with being online is and I can better explain it by giving you a familiar scenario: 2 or 3 people in a coffee shop. 2 people with their I-phones and the other one in an I-Pad all connected through WI-Fi and all 3 connected to Facebook… no talk, pantomime or sign language perhaps? I don’t want to think that companionship and camaraderie have been reduced to this. Tsk,tsk,tsk. Whatever happened to the old-fashioned talk-a-thon??
I feel happy and proud learning about the successes of my classmates. I can see all the statuses in the facebook stream. Ofcourse, not everyone would have positive posts and I am guilty of sometimes airing my negative sentiments as well…I know. I see posts from angry friends meant for one person. And you can only say to yourself: “ If posts could kill…”
I have once told my sons not to make Facebook a medium for the release of their frustrations and anxieties. I told them how it made me feel reading them and how it may affect their friends who may have already read it. It is comforting to know that we are not alone. That somewhere in another part of the world, one person is feeling the same way you do. That whatever we may be feeling, whatever we may be going through, someone has been there and climbed out of it. That’s where I got the idea of how my account should look like, how it can create a positive effect. Since I am looking for some justification why I am sitting in front of my pc every day, I found the answer. I resolve to devote time lifting the spirit of one person and that person may even be…ME.
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