Friday, March 13, 2009

Facebook For Old Fogies


Is Facebook the exclusive domain for under-50 year olds?   I don't think so.

Lev Grossman has his own take of Facebook and why old fogies are taking part.  

Mr. Grossman's first reason, "Finding people you've lost track of" was obvious to me within the last week when a sister of an old friend looked me up.  We were able to catch up on 40 years.

I agree with reason #2, "No longer bitter about high school." Current alliances with the untouchables (the "popular group" or the dorks) is a common occurrence.  

Reason # 3 had to do with what younger people are doing that gets them into long-term regret. Thankfully, we grew up before Facebook even became a phenomenon so our worst indiscretions weren't recorded.  

Grossman says that boomers and seniors have jobs and don't need to network. On the contrary, older people are returning to the workplace in droves and need to network with family, friends, acquaintances, former co-workers and bosses to find job opportunities.  

"We're old enough that pictures from grade school or summer camp look nothing like us." We're coming to terms with the fact that person who looks back at us in the mirror looks more like our parent than the kid we still think we are. 

Reason #7, "We have children" has been replaced with "You have no choice but to ooh and ahh about my grandchildren."

"We're too old to remember email addresses."  So true.  As Dad used to say, "Don't try to remember anything you can write down."

Now I take issue with "We don't understand Twitter."  We do and are having fun with this brief connection to everyone in our address books.

The final reason, "We're not cool, and we don't care."  Grossman says that it's cooler not to be on Facebook.  How wrong you are!  Sometimes this is the only connection we have with some people (even our children or grandchildren!).  Sad but true.

Facebook is here to stay, Grossman.  Deal with it.

Oh yeah, check me out on Facebook.









3 comments:

Unknown said...

It is amazing how much I am enjoying facebook - and I'm a little old gramma. It has been such fun to connect in this way with people we care about.

Diane J Standiford said...

Oh GAWD, now I guess I'll have to try it.

JOAN BARBER said...

I absolutely LOVE Facebook! First of all, as an actress, I have made intimate friendships with people from various productions over the years that I've lost track of. Now, they are back in my life, some on a daily basis. Secondly, although I am not a "birth mother" I have been a voice teacher for over 25 years. When I re-discover my "babies" out there, some of them with babies of their own and some of them carrying out what I taught them, the joy and pride I feel are tremendous. Just recently I had dinner with five of my young proteges (kids I'd either taught, directed or performed with when they were young) when they came to New York to see "Hair." That was a fabulous reunion we intend to carry on in the future. All due to facebook. And finally, my web series "50ToDeath" has a site on facebook, where we can gather fans who will check out our comedy show and join us in our mis-adventures as we joust with the 21st Century. Whew! Can you guess I like facebook?