Information inundation: We need it! | Jon and Randy, Part 2

When we last left Jon, Randy and me, the three of us were at a table in Silver City with beers in hand (Randy’s required two hands) and bright ideas in our heads.
I sat there trying to pay attention to the conversation while constantly yet discreetly checking out the cute girl at the next table. I recognized her as the daughter of my mom’s friend. Pretty soon she left and after one last look, I gave my undivided attention to the Five Questions. Jon refilled my glass with Panther Lake Porter and we moved on.
When I asked Jon and Randy what we get out of Facebook “friendships” and keeping track of people online, Randy pointed out that people nowadays feel like they need to be constantly “in the know.” We feel like we’re left out if we aren’t constantly up to date with what’s going on in our friends’ lives.
Maybe we’ve been conditioned that way. We’re inundated daily with information, most of it useless to our everyday lives (that’s no new concept; read Amusing Ourselves to Death), and Facebook is just one of the latest additions to that pile of crap. (See also: Twitter, MSN, People magazine, etc.) But at the same time, like Chad said, Facebook and other social networking sites have their usefulness. Facebook is a communication tool (more on that in the next post). (Am I using parentheses too much?) And it can bring long lost relatives and friends back together.
Back to the subject at hand. Randy’s point was that we get some satisfaction out of keeping tabs on our friends and acquaintances because we feel like we need to do those things. We don’t want to be left out in any way. Life moves so fast, and we don’t want to be left behind. (I’m extrapolating a little, but I think Randy was getting at all this. And yes, I’m still using parentheses too much.)
Another interesting response came earlier in the night, when Katelyn was still at the next table, looking like she was worth every penny of what it would probably cost to keep a girl like her happy. When I asked Jon and Randy why we were friends on Facebook, they both had the same answer. Surprisingly, it wasn’t, “Because I’m friends with you in real life.” It was, “Because you created an account for me.” It was true. Both of them had been slow on the uptake when it came to social media. I, having been conditioned more successfully by modern mass media, was on Facebook long before they were and wanted to stay up-to-date with the life and times of my friends. So I created Facebook accounts for them. In the two or three years since then, they’ve gradually begun to use the site more and I’ve gradually eased back. I still check my home page almost daily, sometimes more often, but I don’t use the games and pointless applications that are there just for distraction. Like I mentioned earlier, Facebook is a pretty useful communication tool, and I use that feature to a fairly large degree. But I’ll get to that in my next post.

By the way, Randy told me his Facebook password is still the same as it was when I set up his account. It’s an homage to his peaceful little Chihuahua, Nacho. If you want to mess with him, it’s: ilovenacho. Have fun.