Pastor Preaches…. On Facebooking

Well, I wish I could say that I didn’t see this one coming, but heh, I’m practically psychic, so it just so happens that I did.

It seems a well meaning Pastor in New Jersey is tired of counseling troubled marriages that all began over Facebook. You know, that wonderful Social Networking site that everyone and their brother (including me) has an account on.

I feel like I want to agree with him.

I signed up on Facebook to try and reconnect with people I was once friends with in High School. Maybe share some memories, get together for a cup of coffee, something like that. I took the plunge and started searching. I found a lot of people I went to school with. I added them, and then added people I didn’t know. Why? Well, that was because of the evil genius behind some of those programmers who make those addictive little games.

So I talked to some old friends, played some games and then? Promptly got bored with the whole thing. In some cases, I learned a little more than I wanted about people. I leaned that for the most part, most of the people I had “friended” could care less about what I posted. All they cared about was their own posts, thinking they were worthy of great attention and awe.

I find it funny that Facebook was originally created to be a tool (ahem) for college students to “connect” with each other. Oh yeah, you know what kind of connecting I’m talking about. Oh sure, I read the stories, that such and such had a much easier time going away to college after getting to know their future dorm mate on Facebook. But honestly? Most of what was being posted was where the party was and what ridiculous things these kids did when they were out of their minds with drink or drugs. Although, I must admit some of the drunk posts and pictures make me smile.

But then the adult crowd wanted to join in and as usual, acted just as bad as the college crowd. Makes me wonder if we ever grow up?

Yeah, I think Facebook has lead to marital problems. And Friendship problems, and a host of other problems. You only have to read the news on how so and so lost their job because of what they took pictures of last weekend when they had to much to drink. Or lost their job because they posted something dumb about their company or boss, somehow forgetting that their coworkers and bosses were on their friends list.

But mostly? I think the Pastor, though well meaning, isn’t looking at the bigger picture. If people are gonna cheat on their spouse, they don’t need Facebook to do it. People have been cheating on their spouses since before computers became a household item. Did it make it easier? Probably.

To me, the bigger issue is the fact that we are allowing ourselves to become ensnared by the internet, distancing ourselves from the real world. You know, that pesky little thing where you have a job to go to and get paid for, a spouse to take care of, possibly kids to take care, a house to take care of, a car to take care of, you know… life. As we used to know it. Instead of living in real life, so many people get on line and ignore reality. Like they were a rock start or something. What we have here is an on-line idiopathic conundrum (which hey, would make an excellent name for a band). Sorry people, but I’ve seen it, a lot. People get on-line and begin to become engrossed with stuff that does nothing but distort reality. Like Porn. Yeah, Yeah, I know, the internet is for porn (and for those of you who don’t get the reference, it’s a song), but there is a lot more useful stuff on there.

A few examples:

Funny pictures
Recipes for the cooking challenged
Music videos
Artsy pictures
Many, many how to instructions
Pictures of animals, like cows
Dictionaries
Translators
Shopping! (for you women out there)
Shopping! (for you electronic nerds out there)
And much, much more!

But no, instead people seem to want to use it for either porn, or trying to hook up with old flames, or find new ones. Sure, you could do it the old fashioned way, like renting porn, or finding someone in a bar or even the grocery store (not that I condone any of it mind you). But I guess when new tools are made available, someone is gonna find a way to use it in the most destructive way.

I guess, as people, we are just weird that way.

So, for what it’s worth, cudos to the New Jersey Pastor. Whip those cheating hearts into shape and make them get rid of those Facebooks. But my advice? Make them turn off their computers as well.

So, not so funny today, but hey, that’s how it is some days.