Facebook Fatigue

I love a new phrase thats been floating around and I have used it quite liberally in recent weeks. You may have heard me say it. "Facebook fatigue". Although at first it may inspire some chuckles in internet addicts like myself, I have for some time suspected that the joke may be on us. But, hey, I'm no stranger to being the butt of jokes. I was, after all, photographed in both the eighties and the nineties, donning cringe-worthy outfits and questionable hair. And these photos are floating around out there somewhere in cyberspace for all to see and comment on. Thank you, Facebook. Thank you.

Speaking of bad fads, is that all that Facebook is? Are we merely buying into a craze? A craze that has gone completely global? Does it have a shelf life? Is it The Macarena of the internet? Are we going to join in, dance with it a bit, learn it, love it, jump at every chance to do it, include it somehow at every function, until the fun wears and we realize that the cool kids left the party a long time ago? Well, that remains to be seen. I, myself, am no "cool kid" and never have been. But I am considering leaving the party.

My guess is that Facebook is here to stay, in some form or another. But you see, I am finding myself spending way too much time checking the latest status-posts when I could be spending time on... well, a million other things. I am now a mother/housewife and everyone knows that a woman's work is never done. I have long been wanting to start a blog as a creative outlet and as a way of communicating with close friends and kinfolk. And as Facebook brought me back in touch with these friends and kinfolk, I admit it also brought me back in touch with a lot of other not so close "friends."

Don't get me wrong, it is a blast seeing what old fellow high school alumni are up to these days. I love learning who what's-his-face married and what career path so-and-so chose. Unfortunately, I don't really care to read about what they had for lunch, what their fortune cookie says, or their latest political rant. In a perfect world, I would "un-friend" these people and keep only the close friends and kinfolk that motivated me to get on Facebook in the first place. But then I feel like a snob or a bully. And snobs and bullies remind me of high school. And in high school I did The Macarena.

So, therein lies the question. To Facebook. Or not to Facebook. For right now, I can't decide. I don't want to leave the party too early and miss out on something really cool. But, I also don't want to get sucked into a mind-numbing fad when I could be being creative and blogging for you fine people. What I do know is that I am suffering from extreme Facebook fatigue and I am going to try spending less time on that damned network and more time cleaning my house, playing with Wolfie, reading books, working out, taking Keiser for walks, cooking delicious dinners for my husband, and writing in my new blog.

So, here it is folks. Smoke Signals from Alaska. Comments greatly appreciated.