Moderation and Intent - Face Book

In regard to Rev. Thomas V. Berg's article about face book -- I believe it is, like many things, good in moderation and dependent on your intent.

• A classic example: wine is good in moderation. And, if you are over indulgent or if your intent is misguided, i.e. to self medicate, then it is bad.
• Another good personal example . . . . . I was an adamant NO TV Mom until we watched the dedication of our Co-Cathedral at school. It suddenly dawned on me . . . . TV can be very good. It depends on HOW you use it. And, I have learned it takes waaaay more self control to plan, limit and sometimes even pre-tape in order to cut out the commercials on TV than to avoid it all together. Thankfully we are moving to a new place with no cable and this ceases to be a concern. We had been leasing a furnished abode with - you guessed it - cable and a TV. Now I know about the National Geographic channel and Myth Busters and HGTV. But I digress . . . .

Rev. Berg makes some statements that I disagree with or the very least take a different approach.
Rev Berg writes:
1) "Now, call me a sociopath, but are any of you really interested in knowing that I went to the dentist last Thursday (no cavities), or that a couple of weeks ago I bought a pretty green hanging plant which I keep perched above my computer? But if I were on Facebook, I would have been tempted to make all my Facebook “friends” privy to such extraordinary personal events."
I say,
I recently wrote in my status bar that I had a horrible headache.
Three friends who were online sent little ideas for helping.
First, that made me feel so much better.
And, secondly, I was feeling so lethargic and overwhelmed that I hadn't even considered tea and honey. It helped immensly. Sound too small and unimportant? Well, it wasn't to me.

2) . . . . “signing up for friendship through a screen” -- as well as the impersonal manner of communication associated with them"

I say,
Here is a perfect example of intent. How I use my facebook account is quite different than the ways described in Rev Berg's article.
a) This networking tool has made it possible for me to find friends I thought I had no way of finding. We are connected again and sharing our lives, our joys and our sorrows.
b) Facebook has provided a way for me to network with my Catholic friends. We encourage, support and inform each other.

• ~~~~~~~~~~> My news feed let me know that two friends were working at Casa Juan Diego and made it easy for me to ask them to take me along next time.
• ~~~~~~~~~~> I also was reminded of a prayer protest outside an abortion clinic. I knew who was going and who was not -- for car pool help.
• ~~~~~~~~~~> I have learned (mostly by reading people's status updates) of great books to teach me more about my faith. One example is, Catechism of the Summa Theologica of Saint Thomas Aquinas
  

A facebook message or news feed is so much more efficient than emails or voice mails.


3) I’m even more concerned about . . . . what (this is) doing to our understanding of friendship and human love. Can you really call a person with whom you’ve exchanged an email and/or perhaps spoken to on the phone once or twice or met once a “friend”? That’s not only a sickly impoverishment of the notion of human friendship; it’s downright dangerous for a healthy culture.

I say,
Again intent. Why people would add friends that they do not know is beyond me. Facebook is not the problem. And, to most people a "facebook friend" is not always the same as a close personal friend.
I know that many people have hundreds even 1000+ "friends". One of my dear colleagues uses his facebook soley as a marketing tool for his books. I am glad to get news about up and coming book signings and new books. If I was not interested I would delete his connection to me via facebook. Now he has over 1000 "friends" -- that is ingenious (& free) marketing.

4) The Rev. Berg ends with,
Sorry, I’ll take and keep the real deal.

I say,
This whole "facebook thing" allows me to easily stay in touch with "the real deal."


One more thing that crossed my mind . . . . . my paternal grandparent courted only through letters back in the early 1900s. They were an ocean apart.
Perhaps my grandchildren will meet and court through FB, Twitter or some other way yet to be invented.

Good in - good out. That's what it comes down to. Moderation and intent.
With that all being said - here is a very funny look at FaceBook without moderation and proper intent.