A cautionary tale.

Facebook has turned us into lazy friends. Why bother calling someone or Heaven Forbid, meet face to face with someone when all you have to do is change your status line to update people? Facebook has turned us into stalkers. You never have to check in with someone when you can just log in and check a website.

The following is a cautionary tale--a true story of a close friend of mine and what happened when she changed her Facebook information.

Names and identifying characteristics have been changed, of course!

My friend Jane decided she was tired of being bombarded with ads on her Facebook page. She logged in one day and erased most of her personal information. She changed her marital status from married to blank. She wanted to see what would happen to the ads that she was seeing if she took this information down.

A few hours later the calls and emails started. Are you getting divorced? Are you ok? What is going on???
Admittedly, when I got the news on my feed that she had changed her marital status a thought crossed my mind, but I quickly pushed it away. Jane and I are close enough and have known each other long enough that I am sure I would have heard about marital troubles LONG before she divorced her husband on Facebook.

Things came to a head today, when a former boss of her husband emailed him to offer his support and condolences. He didn't have a clue what was going on. Husband is not on Facebook. Jane didn't think to tell him that she had changed her profile. (And really? Why would she? I know my own husband could care less about what blather I have on a social networking site.

So, is there a moral to this story? Absolutely. Don't use social networking sites as a substitute for real friendship.

Would it kill you to pick up the phone once in a while????