The Facebook of the Dead

Facebook continues to be invaded by 50 somethings, if my office is any indication.

The two most cited reasons are to keep up with family (especially grandchildren) and to find classmates they've lost touch with.  Hmmm, that's what I am trying to use Facebook for, too.  Must be a generational thing.

I have found a couple of people I've lost track of over the years, but none (so far) from my childhood.   One explanation may be simple-being female.  As in, the last names I knew people by may no longer apply.

I wish there was a place where you could post that information on Facebook (i.e. a "lost and found" area for people you knew once.)  Maybe there is, but if there is, I don't know about it.

Meanwhile, I have found several younger cousins (teens) I've only had limited contact with (due to living out of state)  but I still hesitate to try to friend them.  Remembering how I felt as a teen (and having a teen in the house) makes me quite aware of how easily a teen can be embarrassed.

Would these young cousins want to have anything to do with a person up there in her 50's?

And finally, there is the heartache of finding the person, or rather, the memory of the person.  Over the years three people I've considered friends have passed on, two to cancer and one to liver disease.  The older I get, the more I know that is going to happen.  All of these deaths were before Facebook.  But now, there is always the chance of the search for a classmate or childhood friends ending with that sad knowledge that the person was on Facebook, but now he or she is gone.

It's enough of a problem that Facebook has taken some heat over the "dead friends" problem.  They've recently came up with a "solution".

However, one good thing about Facebook seems to be that it is going to force the 50 somethings of this cyberworld to keep thinking "young".   In fact, I recently embarked on playing my first online game, thanks to Facebook. (more on that in another post.)

As I can feel my mind getting less agile by the day (it seems, sometimes) that can't be a bad thing.