Facebook

Being a member of a social networking site has been an eye-opener.

For over a year I have accumulated friends on Facebook.

And I have agonized with their struggles, rejoiced in their victories, and lived through their adventures.

Headaches, boredom, homework, messy diapers, road trips, dinner plans - all appear on posts.

Similar to email forwarded messages, Facebook fans re-post videos from Youtube and make up statements and expect everyone to jump on board and agree by clicking 'like.' My favorite this week is, "Let's see how many real Christians are on Facebook." The challenge is transparent. You either are a real one and click to 'like' this post, and if you don't, well, the opposite is true and you should start back at the beginning with Catechism because you just are not the real deal and heaven help you (for real) if you should die before you click 'like' and become a real Christian.

Along with the mundane are benefits that would be lost without the site: a friend's photo albums from her new life in England, wedding pictures from a friend in Haiti, engagement pictures from a friend in Italy, the life and times of another friend living in Afghanistan, pictures from Kenya and Zambia posted by other friends, posting about a couple's couple massage in Bora Bora, and the on-again, off-again relationship statuses of my own grand children, important to keep up with so I know how many to expect for Thanksgiving dinner.

In the main, I like Facebook. What I lack is the discipline to check the site once or twice a day only and not keep it up and running and stopping whatever I am doing when I hear the computer ding with a new post. I'm working on that.

And that's what I think about it.