I have to hope that if my husband ever decided to divorce me that he would at least send me a nicely worded email rather than simply sending a text message...or worse...deleting me from his Facebook friends.
I'm kidding of course. Mike already deleted his Facebook account. His reasoning? The social network was infiltrating too much of his life. I can't argue with his logic.
Especially after this morning.
Like I do most mornings, I woke up and checked my Facebook page. It's part of my routine. While I am debating my day and contemplating getting out of bed, I pull up Facebook on my phone.
I don't know when it occurred and I'm not sure what made me notice the change, but I discovered that I had been deleted by a friend.
I wasn't exactly sure what this meant. Could it mean that we aren't friends anymore? And why did this happen? Is it possible that it an accidental deletion? Or could it be that I was so unimportant to this person that I didn't even rate a quick text message to warn me?
Perhaps it is time for me to re-evaluate how I use my social networks and maybe even who I consider my friends. This entire episode reminds me of a familiar nightmare where I'm back in high school and I keep telling everyone I don't belong. "I've already graduated." I cry. "I'm someone's mom...not a high school student."
And I'm not. I'm a grown up. We grown ups are supposed to behave more maturely than that. We don't "text message break-up" We have the decency to say..."I don't want to be friends anymore". Even if it is much easier to do it in secret. It's what separates us from the adolescents.
Well most of us anyway.
I guess the problem with social networks is that you tend to forget you're dealing with real people and not just thumbnail images. It's often hard to remember that pressing that little button doesn't just turn off the picture...it sends a message to a flesh and blood human being. And maybe "delete" isn't the message you wanted to sent.
Then again maybe I'm just being overly sensitive. It's just a computer program, isn't it? Or is it just a watered down, dissociated version of reality where people don't have to care about the feelings of other people because they aren't really talking to each other.
I suppose I'll figure it out...I'm a fairly intelligent person. Even if I do have a Facebook page.
Until the next time...I'll still be checking my Facebook everyday for comments from the people who didn't delete me!