"Friends"

I'm not putting "friends" in quotations to be a passive-aggressive junior high girl who is annoyed with her BFF for doing something rather inconsequential...I'm putting it like that because I think that the internets has kinda killed the meaning of the word friend. Just the other day Facebook celebrated its five-year anniversary - bonne fete to them [and yes, I'm a fan of Facebook and a big apologist for it in general]! Facebook has let me get back in touch with people I haven't seen or heard from in years [and I'm happy about it - not just checking out their profiles to see if time has made them unattractive]. For the first time ever, I am speaking on a regular basis with some far-flung family members...and it wards off my day-to-day loneliness. So, thumbs up.

Anyway, in light of their anniversary Facebook revealed some information about its users. The main point that rung loud and clear for me was the average number of friends that one has on Facebook. That number? 120. The average Facebooker has 120 friends...some have many, many more [and I feel like all of my "friends" have many, many more - I guess I am just attracted to popularity]. However, I have many, many less. I have precisely 56 friends on Facebook, a number I'm pretty sure is the lowest of all my "friends."

You might say, awww, that's okay loser - it's quality, not quantity that counts. Well, I can't even argue that as the people that I'm Facebook friends with are not really present in my day-to-day life either. Only in a virtual way [which can work for me as I'm pretty anti-social and prickly]. I haven't actually been face-to-face with a Facebook friend in approximately two months. It would be an extreme understatement to say that I've merely "struggled" with friendship over the past decade or so. It's not at all unusual for me to say with a certain degree of honesty that I have no friends [and I don't want anyone who considers me to be a real friend to take this as a slight on our relationship - I'm just insecure]. I'm still working out what friendship means to me...I feel like in the way that silly romantic comedies warp certain women's view of love/romance...I have been warped by sitcoms as to what friendship is all about. Certainly, with all of the time on my hands that has been graciously given to me by unemployment I have been given a great opportunity to cultivate more than 56 Facebook "friends."