Sunday, July 04, 2010

The Love-Hate Relationship with Facebook

It seems as though a lot of people lately are talking about deactivating their Facebook accounts or simply deciding that they spend too much time on FB and cutting back on the minutes (or hours/days??) that they spend on the site.

I've considered this. While I have been serious about this, I always come back to one thing: relationships.

My time on Facebook is spent primarily doing two things--sharing updates and thoughts with friends and family, and receiving updates and thoughts from friends and family. I am now really only on Facebook twice per day--once in the morning, and once in the late afternoon/early evening. I read the posts from my friends, making comments, offering advice, reading some of the recommended stories and articles, and sometimes looking through a photo album that looks like it might contain photos in which I'd be interested.

What does this accomplish? Just recently I discovered that...
Chris and Alissa had a beautiful baby girl.
Ruth is having an incredible visit to Siberia.
Bob and Cynthia are progressing well through the Wycliffe application process.
Scott got married. (And the friends who went to the wedding ate a lot of good food in Arkansas.)

Could this have been accomplished through e-mail and other forms of communication? Some, but not all. And it wouldn't have been done in a public way where I can interact with hundreds of other colleagues, friends and family members. It allows me to learn from what others are learning, grieve when others are grieving, and praise God when others are praising God.

Does Facebook take up some of my time? Yes. But does it also greatly enhance my interaction with friends and family? Absolutely. And that is worth a few minutes of my day!

3 comments:

Rosetta Ceesay said...
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Shayna Mebane said...

So cool Chris! I love the way you put it! It's so true! If it weren't for Facebook how would I know what you thought of Facebook! lol Seriously, I'm glad it's available so I can chat with my friends all over the world on a semi-regular basis! Love ya!
Shayna

Dustin Moody said...

So glad you're not leaving Facebook! And I agree-it's a tool to stay connected and feel a small part of what's going on in the lives of friends--like you and Christine. Thanks for the post!

(And BTW, the food in Arkansas was great!)