Facebook....

Facebook...I love it.  I hate it.  OK, I love it.

I hate the time it seems to devour.  You start to read your feed and before you know it 20 minutes have passed.  Or more.

The superficiality of the posts can also be annoying.  Pictures of your dinner, complete with alcoholic beverage?  Really?  I like to hear little bits of news from my friends.  Photos are always nice.  New baby pictures are wonderful...

Truth be told, I really like the political posts.  I like the links to interesting articles.  I hate it when people complain about political posting.  Is thinking not allowed on Facebook?  Is there some reason why people think the expression of political opinions is offensive?  Do they not want to be bothered with news of anything significant happening in our country or world?  It's as though they're saying, "Please, only shallow, meaningless communication here.  Leave our apathy alone."  Hmmm.  I don't understand that.  We are called to think.  We are called to discern.  We are called to be informed citizens.

So what do I love about Facebook?  I love keeping up with friends I have not seen in a long time, especially through photos of what they are doing.  I love the occasional Scrabble game.  I think it's wonderful to share prayer requests and to get updates about prayers answered and requests for continued prayers.  And it's very convenient to send someone a quick message using Facebook.  For people who are on FB often, this is quite likely the fastest way to get a message to them.  

I like the birthday reminders.  I like receiving birthday wishes from people who would not otherwise know my birthday.  And I like sharing photos.  (And I like seeing what my adult children are doing....)

Facebook is often getting a bad rap.  I think it really enhances social connections....(as long as you don't let it pull away too much of your valuable time.)