Peer Pressure

I'm really quite pro-social networking, and these days my platform of choice is Facebook. Since joining, I've reconnected with friends from all different places I've lived dating all the way back to a girl I knew when I was under six months old. The only reason I knew to look for her at all was because her name is one of those that is so fluid it gets stuck in your head. Apparently for me, it got stuck for 29 years.

But recently Facebook has been pressuring me to do things.

Every time I log in, it's something. Throughout the day, it demands that I "reconnect", "say hello", "suggest a picture", and the most intrusive... "help them find friends."

Normally I'm content to ignore these things. I choose to not reconnect or say hello to people ALL THE TIME. I'm a master at that. Suggesting a picture carries a little more intrigue, but being tasked with finding friends for someone because they don't have enough? That's more responsibility than I realized I was taking on by simply agreeing to add someone to my list. I didn't sign up for this!

I find myself overwhelmed with a sense of responsibility to connect this person to others. Do I suggest people they already know or people I think they'd like? Sometimes I give in and pour over my friends list desperate to find a natural connection that I can suggest.

Did they work together? Are they family?

But, while both of those situations present the easiest way out, they're both the most likely situations that one would NOT want to have in their personal online space. Maybe. I've seen people add their supervisors, so maybe not.

Other times, I put more thought into it. Do they LIKE this person? This requires memory that I frequently don't have.

And then there's the third level of friendship suggesting-- the "advanced" manuever--suggesting people they WOULD like, but don't know. I admit, I almost never do this. I often wonder if this sort of thing happens often. Probably for dating purposes if anything, but it seems awfully bold.

Anyway, after careful consideration, almost always, the same thing happens... instead of suggesting friends, I tell on Facebook. I make my way to the person's profile and I explain that Facebook is pressuring me to find them friends and I'm feeling uncomfortable with it.

I leave the situation feeling like I've won- no friends suggested and pressure released, but then I realize, this is what Facebook wanted all along! I've ended up saying hello AND reconnecting!

Dammit, Facebook. You win again.