I used to complain a lot about Facebook. I thought it was occasionally interesting, but mostly it was just annoying. I rarely cared what people had for breakfast, and I never understood the appeal of games like Farmville. I believed that Facebook was making people lazy about building and maintaining relationships. I had a fairly selfish attitude about the whole thing. I used it to see what had happened to some old friends and to help promote my business and my book.
In the last few years, I have gained a real appreciation for Facebook, specifically, and social media tools in general. I have become a true believer. I believe Facebook has virtues, and I believe it can help us build stronger, more meaningful relationships in all areas of our lives.
Yesterday was my birthday, and I was reminded of my new attitude about Facebook. I woke up to breakfast in bed, prepared and delivered by my children. After spending some quality time with my family, I got to work. I was going through emails, and I started noticing all of the friends on Facebook who had left me birthday wishes. Their simple messages reminded me of fond memories from high school, college, my career, and life in general. I laughed at myself for sharing my breakfast details, but as I read comments, I realized it wasn’t annoying or mundane. It was an opportunity to celebrate a simple joy of parenthood and an invitation for friends to share their own.
That’s the beauty of social media; it makes staying in touch or reconnecting easy. More than that, it provides triggers about what is happening in peoples’ lives. Some may call that lazy; I call it convenient. Facebook reminds us to let people know we are thinking about them. So many people touch our lives. Sometimes we develop deep and enduring relationships, and other times the relationships can be fleeting. Regardless, every person we meet makes an impression and influences who we are. As I read the birthday greetings yesterday, each one reminded me of the blessing of friendship and the 47 years of experiences that formed the man I am.
If Facebook and other social media tools do nothing else, they remind us of the network of people who make up our lives, and they remind us to stay connected. If the connections are limited to an occasional birthday wish or acknowledgement of the events in our lives, we are still better for having made them. If they raise our awareness, that’s good. We form habits by repeatedly doing the same thing. Perhaps Facebook can create a societal habit of staying connected. Perhaps it already has. I am a better man because of the relationships in my life, and the birthday wishes yesterday reminded me to be thankful and to stay in touch.
