Friday, May 15, 2009

Confessions of a Facebook Newbie

2006 me at the top of Masada, Israel

Okay...I admit it! I have a new addiction - oy! I finally took the plunge and joined Facebook. I had resisted for some time because I know myself and I knew that anything new with lists or photos or such will become an obsession for me. I'm one of those weird people that gets a new directory for an organization I belong to and immediately have to read every name and highlight the ones I know. Or if there's a bibliography in the back of a book, I have to highlight all the books I've read from the list. A true addict. I know myself. So, knowing this whenever I would get e-mails from friends asking me to join FB, I deleted them to avoid the temptation. But as time went by, and everyone was on MySpace, FB, and Twitter, I began to feel left out. It made me feel old and out of the newest hip thing. I began to question my thinking - what was I missing? What do they know that I don't? It reminded me of when I was not invited to a party in school or not invited to join the top club. I have always wanted to be part of the group. But after 19 years of sobriety and now confronting my addiction to food (I have now lost 25 lbs and 20 1/2 inches and am on week 22 of giving away my weight), I know myself.

Upstairs room at the church at Fountain & Fairfax - my very first AA mtg. 3/1/1990

Then someone I know who I really respect, went on and on about how Facebook is a great way to promote her business. That was it. The excuse I had secretly been searching for. I could join FB without any guilt to promote my Creative Coaching business and mixed media and writing classes. And besides it's free! Without another thought, excuse or hesitation, I found myself filling in my info on the FB registration. In less than 30 seconds I was in! I was at the party. I was in the club. Wow! Pretty harmless.

1981 - Me - Club Med show - Playa Blanca, Mexico

It was all pretty user friendly and I'm a quick study so within a couple of minutes I got how it all worked. At first I thought it was ridiculous. People posting that they're leaving work or posting things as if they're speaking just to me. Stupid, I thought. Why would people do that? Why would anyone care? I was wrong. This won't be addictive. As an old PR person, I'll only use it to promote business things. And that would have happened, if only I didn't discover that I could look at other folks friends lists. Once I discovered this, my addiction took hold and I found hours had passed by without moving from my computer. Okay, this is really embarrassing but I would click on a friend to request that they join my friend list. And then I would have to look at their list to see if I knew anyone on their friend page, which I most likely did. And then I'd see someone I knew from the past and click on their list. Just like when you hold a mirror up to another mirror to see "infinity" that's what FB became for me.

1978 - me channeling Ms. Streisand - Atlanta, GA

On a positive note...I've been a member of FB for over a week now and the novelty has worn off somewhat. I've connected with old high school friends and friends from productions I worked on almost thirty years ago. I'm actually going to meet a few of them for lunch. I do promote business things on my FB page. But I admit I now tell my "friends" when I'm off to the vet or going to a screening at the TV Academy and I do check FB many times during the day. I notice that I feel better connected to the outside world. There's an expression that says "contempt prior to investigation". I think I understand that phrase much better now :) But don't ask me join Twitter....

5 comments:

Angie in AZ said...

oh!oh!!! find me on facebook. I wanna' be your friend! And if you like playing scrabble, wait until you discover scrabble through facebook! talk about addicting! I now keep about 6 games going all the time!

And good for you giving away that weight! I heard a quote last year that has been my motto... nothing tastes better than thin. I too, have lost over 25 lbs. since we saw each other last! We'll be our skinnier versions when we see each other in August at AU! Gosh, you are coming, aren't you?

LorMil said...

I'm on FB, also! Fairly new to it, too.

rscoach said...

Could you friend me on FB - don't know your full name to look you up - hugs - Reva

LorMil said...

Thanks so much for visiting, sweetie. It was good to see you.

Hugs.

Joy Allen said...

Hi Reva! It was great getting to look at your blog! You are an inspiration! Love and Hugs, Joy Allen