Digitization

I recently (yesterday) made the decision to rejoin Facebook.  I remember why I quit in the first place: I was compelled to gossip about myself a little too much and there was a reason I didn't keep in touch with many people in the first place. So I quit.

And now I'm back.

I've quietly and loudly railed against Facebook often. It is with hesitation and wariness that I rejoined but the main reason is simple enough. People. Facebook is good at what it does which is primarily link people and connections. Communicating with people, getting their news and sharing news, ideas, thoughts, stories with each other is an essential part of the human experience.  Somehow e-mail has become far too formal a tool to use for this purpose and cumbersome. If I want to say a few things to a lot of people or share an article with many, mass e-mailing seems clunky and silly for that purpose. E-mail is far more suited to family or business connection and little with loose, frivolous bursts of communication.  Same with phone conversations and I'm hardly good at speaking on the phone and easily distracted. Texting is too short to share moderate things and reserved far more for one on one conversations.

So Facebook it is. I came to realize that I miss getting news. Not necessarily gossip but news. Like pictures of friends' babies, seeing how people's days went. Things that if we were still in high school together I would know or care to know or bother to find out. I've realized I care more about my friends then I've let on or made noticeable. I've come to realize that sometimes I want to talk/type/communicate with others, share my thoughts and exchange information.

Also without any shame at all I've come to realize that I kind of like having an audience that I can share my thoughts and ideas with, who I can interact with and a place where I can sustain and grow friendships that otherwise are relegated to personal thoughts and the odd party where I get to catch up with people I haven't seen in far too long and don't get to speak with as often as I'd wish. At the very least, for this who care or show interest, Facebook provides me with a place where I can be reached, I am visible and accessible. Where I can be reached.

Most importantly whether or not Facebook continues or is replaced, a digital presence is warranted in order to keep in touch. Love it, Like it, grudgingly bear it or flat out hate it, this is the world today. We are digitally motivated and moved. Our digital lives are extensions of our personas, personalities and persons. We an fight against it, we can live off the grid (and it is more than possible and even laudable in instances) but in order to maintain that connection with others in order to share and be shared being digital is just a procedural aspect of being a human being in this age.

So yes, with a bit of gritted teeth, a wry smile and full heart I'm back on Facebook. To see you all again acquaint myself with your lives again, to give you a glimpse of my own life, well it is well worth it to be back "online." More than these simple words have said. So I leave you with this:

Hello again.