Facebook the generation gap

I was having dinner with a few of my workmates sometime last year and I know I should have written about it sooner but it just hit me that there are some things that are obvious with age.

We were all in the middle of discussing Facebook. On the one side, it's a phenomenon which everyone wants to be a part of, and that makes the concept work, because ultimately Facebook is about connecting people. People you haven't seen in a long, long time, people whom you see everyday, but don't have the time to connect, parents who want to know what their kids are up to, parents who connect with their kids on 'their' platform and new/old friends to learn more about that friend.

Some people use it to advertise every moment of their life, I do that from time to time, but not to the extent which some do. It's a great platform... teeming with information, some irrelevant, some surprising... I find that I'm mostly happy when there's an update because it means they're still alive.

So, one of the topics that came up was the amount of information that appears on your news feed. You'll have to remember that these are people you've either asked to be a friend of or have accepted their request to be a friend. Why did you befriend them when you weren't going to like their news updates? Or curse them for updating ever so often.

Would this be considered a generation gap thing? Generation X living in generation Y's era and trying to understand it. If you're irritated with the updates, just don't read them. Apparently, that's easier said than done, some people are really drawn to gossip.

For those of you out there who have Facebook accounts, what do you use it for? I think everyone who has an account should treat it like a marriage with the following vows; for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, till death do you part.