For a brief moment yesterday I had to wonder to myself: what exactly is the point of social media? I wonder on occasion only because the illusion is that it “connects” people to one another, but I question whether that’s actually true. I think that all depends on your idea of the word “connect.”

I recently read an article about how 7 million people left fb last month. The odd thing about that is that for the past three years I’ve tried to do the same thing. Now considering that I rarely even like to plan my meals (or my dates for that matter) it borders on ridiculous how anyone can “try” to do something for three years, but yet never actually follow through on it. So the truth is that although I harbor a mild disdain for fb, as well as the accumulated time I’ve spent on it since 2006 when I first joined, I suppose I actually use it. I don’t use it nearly as much as I once did, but it’s an app I can’t deny opening on my iPhone at least once a day when checking voicemail.

Nevertheless the point remains, when you’re old and wrinkled would you really prefer looking back on all the time you spent “connecting” with people online or would you wish you had spent more time connecting to the people you care about in person, in real life, in flesh and blood? Online messaging, posting, and chatting doesn’t excite me one-tenth as much as sharing a laugh with an old friend in person.

So the question remains: would you rather see someone’s face or just their facebook? I’d opt for the former, but if that’s not realistic because of distance and time, or whatever the case may be, then I’ll begrudgingly accept the latter. So for the time being, I haven’t completely kicked fb, but the conundrum still festers.

-TheDiaryofDaniel