Facebook can be described as many things.  It’s a social network, a giant party invitation, a worldwide photo album and an split-second way to share our feelings.  For my generation, and those to follow, FB has become an outlet for many (and sometimes, all) thoughts, feelings and experiences.  While we are safe in our own homes we are able to share things with those “friends” that we would never share face to face, both joyous and sad.  In a way, the internet has allowed us to show other aspects of our true selves that we would have kept well hidden if it were a few decades ago.  A user’s mentality must be “This is me, these are my feelings.  If you don’t like it, block me.”

But what happens when Generation Now clashes with Generation No-facebook?  Those generations that wrote in longhand and not txt spk, those who had party lines instead of mass e-mails, and those who were more guarded about presenting themselves to the world as opposed to posting every picture from “last night”? I’ll tell you what happens, nothing pleasant.  Things are misinterpreted and feelings are hurt because there is a disconnect.  I kind of think of it as two sides of a coin.  The “heads” and the “tails” have only known their side of the coin, they don’t understand where the other may be coming from, but they are serving the same purpose. [That last thought totally works in my head]  While the generation before me may use FB to reconnect with family and friends, my generation’s only way of connecting is through instant media.

What I realized tonight is that we ALL need to balance the two views of facebook and we should all wait a few breaths before typing something, no matter what the situation. Because the problem with reading words off of a screen is that you have no idea what the other person may be experiencing/thinking at any moment and the last thing you want to do is hurt one of your “friends” (as in FB friends, not a dis.  See what I mean about words on a screen?!)