FRIENDS & CELEBRITES

Okay, so today on my way to work something struck me (no not another car). A thought struck me while I was on the phone. Through the conversation I was told that a friend of mine (not the one I was talking to) was leaving tomorrow for L.A. The only reason this person came up is because we workout with her on Tuesdays (today being Tuesday, of course, I inquired about the time to meet tonight.) I found out that she was going to L.A. and when I said, "I didn't know about this" the response was simply this, "It was on her facebook."

Last week one of my closest friends was having a party (far be it for me to not show up somewhere where there is alcohol.) This friend told me about it, but didn't have any information at the time. So when Friday rolled around, I needed to know the address of where we were going, and the response was, "It was on my facebook."

The point is this...facebook (and I do love my facebook), but facebook (or the sites similar) seem to be the way we are finding out about people. Now when I say "people" I don't mean the people you haven't seen for ten years, or the people you have just met overnight at some coffee bar on 4th Ave. I mean friends, people you know well; people you spend a great deal of your time with; family members even to some.

I think with every new addition to make the world smaller, we somehow find a way to make it big again and take away all of the work we have accomplished. I love facebook for the fact that we can keep in touch with the people that we don't have around as much anymore, and for that I am grateful that the world is getting smaller. However, with that power is coming consequences. We seem to be communicating to the people we know the most through facebook or texting, and we don't seem to be talking anymore. Our modern definition of communication is making the people who live far away close to us, but with this medium it is making the people who live next door farther from us.

Far be it for me to say this and not be a victim of it. I am guilty as everyone else of having God only knows how many texts per month (thank you unlimited text plan) and contacting people through the internet to meet them (thank you facebook chat; although you suck sometimes.) I am guilty of this just like everyone else.

However, this kind of communication process is both scary and exciting. We are reading up about our best friends as if they were some kind of celebrities; as if they were people that we don't really know, but instead people that we are living through. With every step closer to each other we are distancing ourself further from people.

We need to use this new technological power to our advantage, but at the same time we should be careful that this technology doesn't end up taking advantage of us. All I am saying, to myself as well, is that we should not give up facebook (Lord, I think I would cry for weeks), but instead take the time out to call the people you love, to TALK to the ones who mean something in your life. Let them know they love you.

Talking on the phone is the new writing a letter. You know that great feeling when you get a letter in the mail? The feeling that means that somebody has taken out the time to write out a note, to send it through the mail to you. That is now what talking on the phone is like....someone is taking out the time.

No facebook or text can compare with the power of the human voice. After all remember, the originals or anything are kind of hard to beat. So the original communications are better off not being lost just because technology made it easier.