Social Networking? or living in the past?

I have been on Facebook for a while now. On facebook I have made contact with scores of people with whom I went to High School, College, was in the Air Force with, went to camp with, etc.

I have meaningful "relationships" if it can be called that, with about 10 of them. I mean, there are dozens of people with whom I have attempted to start chat conversations, to no avail. I am sure there is always a reason that they don't respond...didn't see the chat window, or whatever. But it makes me wonder about this whole social networking thing. Is it really all that healthy? I mean, my wife looks at facebook as borderline voyeurism. I try to tell her that only people who have been selected as friends can see the content one puts on there, and that Facebook is only what you do with it. I mean, you can put as little or as much information as you wish on it. But that is not the healthy I am referring to here. I am referring to the skill of actually relating to people. Someone put on as their status the other day... So and So is getting ready to go to the annual general meeting at church... And we wanted to know this...why? Some people put things like So and So needs coffee.... Well who doesn't.

Are people who have 500 Facebook friends more social than someone who has 150? Do they even really know half their friends? I go through my list from time to time, and cull out people with whom I have had no contact with for an indeterminate amount of time. With some people, I won't ever cull them, because of the value I placed on their friendship when we were actually friends who saw one another, or whom I went to school with.

Am I living in the past, trying to keep in touch with people who have not been a part of my life for more than 20 years? Recently I became friends with a guy who was in our carpool probably something like 26 years ago or more. Being a Christian, I believe God brings people into our lives for a reason. Whatever the reason, there are no accidents.

Interestingly, as I have grown older, I have had fewer and fewer physical friends. Right now I can think of only two men that I hang out with. I am such good friends with my wife that I have found that the need for outside friendship has gotten less and less. I still need a couple of guys to do the guy things with, but even the guy things, like going to football games, and golfing, etc, are becoming less and less a priority as my children get older. Soon I will be able to do some of those things with my son, if I can drag him away from the computer. My daughter already loves going fishing with me...she won't bait her hook or touch a fish, but she loves going just the same, and those times out with her are amazing, even if we don't catch anything. So far she hasn't, and I have only caught one small herring that I threw back.

So will I continue on Facebook? I don't know. It is a tool. But it also wastes a lot of time. That is a good thing when I am at work, or late in the evening when the kids are quiet. But I find that a good book still gets my attention.

Just a few thoughts.

Jonathan