The Book of Face

So, I was reading a blog earlier this morning. Someone with whom I experienced the miseries of seventh grade PE is now a successful Author. Yes, Author. With a
capital A. Side note – I’m jealous. But jealous in a good way and inspired.
Someday that’s gonna be me. Back to the topic at hand: How did I find out she’s
a successful Author?

Facebook, of course. And the irony here is that I was reading a post of hers about, well, social media.

What did we ever do without Facebook? I mean, I used to occasionally wonder what happened to certain folks. Get excited for upcoming reunions so that I could see how so-and-so looked, how many kids they had, etc. Now there’s no guessing. You can instantly find out. All thanks to the Book of Face.

Your best friend from Kindergarten? A former globe-traveling military intelligence officer turned SAHM. To eight kids. Eight. Wow.

The elementary school bully? Former CIA operative turned international business guru. No lie.

The Pretty Girls? Now you have instant access to see exactly who has been Botoxed, nipped, tucked and enhanced. Not to mention those who have chosen to age gracefully.

That guy you had a crush on for, like, ever? You know who I mean. The one who always looked at you like you were a total idiot every time you tried to talk to him? Because you were so nervous trying to talk to him that stringing two words together into a coherent sentence was impossible while you were shaking in your fringed white leather boots? Yeah, that guy. Now you can instantly connect and share witty quips via Facebook.

The college friend who left school to ‘find themselves?’ It’s possible to instantly
learn that they’re now the proud owner of their own horticulture business based
in Amsterdam and California. Yup. Really.

The kid who mooned me and my friends before school one day? He wasn’t too bright. See, he dropped his drawers just as my dad was driving away from the curb. Dad happened to be looking in the rearview mirror – and I never thought it was possible to whip a car in reverse quite that fast. Yeah. That kid grew up to be a guest of the state penitentiary system. Shocker.

The only downer? The Memorial Sheet. Updates on who has died just don’t really compute with me. It’s hard to imagine that I’m old enough now that people I knew way back in the day are passing away.

And don’t even get me started on former students. That’s a weird one. Again, just the idea that I’ve taught long enough for little kids to have grown into adults is pretty shocking. I mean, I sure don’t feel any older. At least, not on most days.

So my question here is this: Do you use social media to catch up with people that you only wonder about in passing? Or do you limit your contacts to close friends and business contacts ? What made up your mind on that?