Facebook and relationships in the 21st Century

You remember the old saying, "jack of all trades, but master of none"? That old adage has widespread application; especially in the digital age. In the age of wikipedia and instant Internet access we are only a click away from a "definitive" opinion on our searched topic. No real sweat or effort goes into learning the subject and as a result we have a wide, but shallow understanding of many things. No real depth.....moving to relationships.

In the last several years we've seen an absolute explosion of Social Media like Linked In, Facebook, and MySpace that allow us to socialize and network. I remember signing up for the first two several years ago while at Thunderbird. Initially it was a fun novelty that lost its luster due to low user participation. But these applications have reached critical mass and it's nearly impossible to avoid them now.

As a result of this widespread usage I've now been able to reconnect with hundreds of people that I thought were consigned to memory and dusty pages from an old yearbook. It's been interesting to catchup, view photos of families, and brag about how "cool" our lives are. It also raises several questions that just didn't exist in the ancient days that proceeded Netscape and the text message. Among them are:

• Do these technologies impact relationship fidelity's? You know what they say about the grass is greener. I can only imagine that there are scores of people who aren't happy with their current station and daydream of "what if" with past flames. Those flames can be fanned with escalating emails and communication.
• Does social media affect the way we look at people? We've got a whole new generation of voyeurs that can spend countless hours peeking into the lives of people. Hours can be wasted trying to find an old roommate or looking for juicy tidbits that can gain currency as gossip.
• Productivity drain? How many hours are spent posting crap and waiting for people to comment on our little kid who we feel is the cutest thing since Shirley Temple?
• Do these tools cheapen our relationships? Instead of having a close circle of friends that receive the majority of our attention do we neglect them by casting a wide net over people that have little impact on us? For example, how many of us blow off quality time with our spouses in order to talk about how cool our freshman assembly was with a couple of long, lost school mates?

Sure there is much to be gained by this new technology. But I would dare say that they also create a new host of issues. Just remember that an actual conversation always trumps an instant message and that cyberspace and reality sometime don't operate in tandem.

I've got to run....someone just pinged my twitter account...lol