I recently created a Facebook account because many of my friends and relatives also choose to be there. It is a "simple" way to stay in touch with activities, thoughts, and with pictures. "The Book" is very popular with the younger set and provides a passage way into their lives that may not be extended to "older people" if left to normal communication channels. I enjoy the opportunity to be more connected using Facebook. Are you on "The Book?"

I think it goes without saying (but I will anyway) that everything and all things on Facebook (or other social networks for that matter) need to be taken with many grains of salt.

One of the things that bothers me about Facebook's format is the opportunity of one's friends to either make comment, or not. The easier way out by simply selecting the "Like" option in the comment section is what bothers me. This way a reader can show approval of what I have posted without making specific comment. Is this "Like" feature fine and dandy? What happens if my readers start expressing their "Like" for certain things that only meet their approval? What if I begin to respond by only posting things that my friends will like? Can I become conditioned (in a Pavlovian way) to doing and saying things just so that you (my friends and relatives) will pet me, or feed me? What happens if "...you do not "like" the truth that is coming out of my mouth..."? Will we still be friends, will you throw me under the family bus, or will you just shun me?