Saturday, January 31, 2009

how many is too many reindeer games?



when those 'things about me' memes were going around the blogs, they required maybe five or six items. I played along (though never quite seeing the point). now the 'game' has hit Facebook (with a vengeance) and the 'tag' requires 25 items. jeez. who wants to know 25 things about me? and each of the other 500 or so friends everyone has on FB? and their friends. and so on.

which brings me to the definition of 'friend': is something wrong when I look at the name and photo of one of my FB friends and ask myself "who the hell is that?" ? I have a general policy of not 'friending' someone if that person's only connection to me is that she or he happens to be a contact of a contact of a contact of mine in S. Korea. so--who are these people and why am I their friend?

now that nearly everyone I am related to or ever had a flirtation with or ever was on a website with a cousin of a colleague of a lawyer of an agent of a student of a sister of a husband of an acquaintance of an ex cyber-lover of a friend of mine is now on Facebook, I am beginning to question: when is it pissy to refuse play these reindeer games and when is it just survival of the psyche?

5 comments:

Mariah said...

hahaha. I don't think it's wrong or rude at all to not complete the memes. I'm fascinated by how they spread from person to person like a stack of dominoes. Or a disease.

Maryanne Stahl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Maryanne Stahl said...

I f only I'd known about this! :-)

GC SMITH said...

It makes sense not to play if you don't wish to. So far I'm enjoying learning some things about some folks but after a while it will get old.

I agree that befriending random strangers is a waste. I don't do it.

Are you and Jim going to the Savannah Book Fair?

Kari Norman said...

As part of the FaceBook generation, I can safely say I'm on FaceBook far more that what should be considered healthy.

I think memes were created by this generation out of boredom, which is why many of us are on FB so much in the first place. I've done a couple of them, but I've always feared the high-numbered ones. I was also surprised to find out that people actually want to do these memes and go in search of them on purpose. The first time I did a meme, my reasoning was "Well, why not? No one's going to look at this."

I was wrong. So very, very wrong.