Monday 28 November 2011

Friends or Social net working?

In this strange linked up world we now live in the nature of friendship is changing fast. In the old days friends and acquaintances were people we had met, who lived or worked in close proximity. Now a friend can be someone we have never actually met.
I started to play backgammon on Fibs before the rise of social net working sites. Some of the friends I made then are still friends, though none of them are  on Fibs any more.
Now I play scrabble too on Facebook....and again I have made friends. Its also brought me back in touch with people who were friends many years ago but who I don't now see following my self imposed exile in Cornwall.
Some times though I do wish for fewer people on Facebook....and on Twitter, though to a lesser extent.
Because sometimes my time lines get completely clogged up. People who play games often publish the results of their games.   If they have  spent a day playing the announcements can take up a lot of room!  When I'm home I don't mind at all,  I can just skip past them. When I'm abroad though its a different matter since every time I download anything it costs me money....and it can mount up over a week or two to quite a lot of money!
So every so often I have a cull.
I unfollow  people on Twitter fairly regularly to try to keep the whole thing in reasonable bounds but on Facebook its much harder....I don't like to cause offence or have people wondering what they've done wrong.
The other part of FB is of course the fact that every time you go in there waiting for you are pictures of people you definitely don't want to be in touch with...I skip over them fairly quickly trying not to feel bad about it.
The whole thing is a trap for the unwary.  But the fact is that we have another trip planned for early next year so if you find yourself cut off please excuse me.....I'm just trying to keep the costs down!
I count all the people I talk to regularly on both Titter and FB as real friends, some of them I have met,  some I haven't but our conversations show a shared concern for all sorts of political or social issues.
Its a wonderful thing for an old woman cut off from much that I was used to to be able to hold conversations with people all round the world on all sorts of subject.....nearly as good as a magic carpet!

2 comments:

UKViewer said...

The thing is Jean, while you say you are an Old Woman, you write as one whose zest for life and for God is much younger.

It's interesting to be able to respond on the many diverse things you write about, while I struggle to think through a post on anything.

So, if you are thinking of demoting me to the un-followed category, I'll miss out on loads of stuff, which I value.

Revjeanrolt said...

Would I ever cut you off Ernie? I value your comments fat too much!