Facebook Friends

I've decided to streamline my list of "friends" on Facebook.  I don't really think I need to accommodate people who I'm not really friends with, and let just any acquaintance see a photo history of my past few months.  I know people think I'm taking it too seriously, but I just don't want to share with just anyone...and I think the less personal information I have on the web the better.

The following is what I posted on my Facebook site.  I'll keep this blog site updated with any comments or repercussions.

I've been doing some thinking about why I'm so uptight about Facebook.  I am probably the most anal/choosy person I know when it comes to my friend lists on social networking sites.  People who were friends of mine on myspace have gone through the drill already-and I suppose I've done this once before on facebook-but here's the explanation.

I see this as more than just something fun to do with my spare time.  I actually use facebook (and formerly, myspace) as a means of social interaction as much as it is to keep my friends informed as to what I am doing with my life.

I am not able to simply slick "accept" for every person who wants to view my life.  I need some kind of assurance that a friend of mine wants to be a participant in my life, rather than just a casual viewer of channel Ben Kirkham.

In a world that is so impersonal that even we adults text and email each other more than we speak to each other, I find that facebook is adding more fuel to my disdain of how technology and the information age has created friendship without any significant relationship.  I am therefore going to delete people who I do not have any actual, meaningful relationship with.

I want to be friends with people who I actually talk to, hang out with and have shared experiences with.  I don't believe that it's a valid excuse to share my life with someone just because we have a mutual friend or we were once in the same physics class.  I know that people won't understand this, and maybe I'm just an old curmudgeon, but I just don't like the idea of strangers and people who have become strangers being two clicks away from my personal life.

So, if a couple of days from now you find yourself unable to view my page, please don't take it personally.  It doesn't mean that I don't like you, or that I think you're a cyber predator or that you're going to steal my identity.  It just means that we probably weren't really friends to begin with.

Thanks for your understanding.

Ben "Old Man" Kirkham