Day 23: Call me Dorothy.

So it appears Facebook has gotten me into trouble once more, I forgot a friend's Birthday. Oops. Ha. Nothing is better than getting a text that says, you never wished me Happy Birthday. My reply? Facebook didn't remind me, sorry. Honestly though I barely remember my sister's Birthday's let alone all of my friends! Ugh the trifles of an anti-social person.

The cravings come and go. Today I am entirely too bored at my place of work and the idea of living vicariously through others sounds very appealing. Isn't that what we are all doing when we 'Facebook' anyways? Funny how we are all aware of what everyone is doing, but the moment someone accuses us as being a stalker or a constant Facebook addict we immediately take offense and deny...well most of us anyways. lol Oh the images we must maintain.

Apparently word has broken out at work that I am on Facebook and of my challenge, therefore I have co-workers coming up to me telling me they added me. Of course I then have to explain that Im not currently online and then immediately review mentally what material is exposed to the world through my privacy settings. Again the mental side note to clean up my page when I return persists. Honestly I am beginning to find it alarming how much information people are really sharing with the world on a constant basis: trips, relationships, jobs, tragedies, private family moments, etc. Are there really any secret or private moments anymore? I still can not get over the amount of baby pictures others put up online or the fact that two of my friends made pages for their animals. Really people? It seems that these individuals are not getting enough attention and must therefore broaden their linkage to their felines and canines. Even inanimate objects seem to have pages...

So I suppose the focus for today is on the pathetic nature that some of us may develop while on Facebook. When in actuality the whole basis of this social network was to act as a visual phonebook using pictures of people's (humans) faces. Easy access to those in our lives. What do you think individuals from 100 years ago would think of our isolation and monitor-loving selves? Remember the good ol' days when two people would meet in an unlikely situation and pursue one another verbally by then setting up a place and time to meet up together later? Upon that moment one person would take a leap of faith and arrive at said location, early, as to not miss their chance and then... wait. The horrible, dreaded waiting game. Sometimes hours would go by and then the person would assume that the other was simply not interested. Now it seems that a simple 'de-friend', 2 second text message, or even lack of text messages suffices.

We survived perfectly fine prior to this phenomenon, why not now? We are constantly depending on a signal to connect us. What others fail to notice is that these profiles are not people. They are snapshots of time and details written in 100 characters or less. They are not what is true. Obsession is made over facades and poetic words, not reality--as brutal and honest and yes boring as it really is. But it's life. Now others expect entertainment from websites and televisions rather than create their own! Honestly, who cares where you are, what your doing, who you love? As long as you like yourself and are comfortable with your life, that is all that matters. But I suppose that is the issue. People notice social expectations, notice the image they must present in order to be accepted. And therefore, it is this need/want for acceptance that our lives become a constant narration and show for others to watch. Perhaps this in itself reveals the true reality, people are not satisfied with life anymore because of the high expectations, and have finally learned how to hide behind the curtain as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz putting on an act. The unveiling has yet to come, if ever...Where is Dorothy when you need her?