Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Facebook: I don't get it

The current storyline on the funny comic strip  "Zits," about mom and pop and their teen age son,  has the parents wishing they had not looked at Jeremy's Facebook page.  How true to life that is. The language and content I see my adult offspring and their kids puting on Facebook for all the world to see leaves me reeling.  So why do I look at it?  I don't  know. Ask Jeremy's mom and pop. Ask Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman.  Scott comes up with the stories and Borgman draws the pictures.  I wonder if they have teen agers.  They seem to understand them well.

Alright, every generation has its own communication style, designed to be incomprehensible to the old folks. I accept that.  I am old enough to be the father or grandfather of most users of Facebook.
But I'm puzzled by those bright, educated, literate members  who seem quiite content to communicate with nothing beyond "John Jones like Mary Smith's status." I just don't get it.
Most have abandoned e-mail, the last vestige of real letter writing.  One can get in touch with them only through a Facebook message. They check that every hour on the hour, apparently to determine who likes their status or who wants to be their friend. I don't get it.
ON THE OTHER HAND ...Silly old guys can have far too much fun with it.

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