This Year for Lent . . .

. . . I'm giving up my faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ. I wish I could claim originality on that one, but it came from my cousin Dan, circa 1997. Good luck trying to unravel the philosophical dilemmas involved in that one, but let me get you started . . . we're Jewish.

My distaste for Facebook and Facebook junkies is no secret. I will look down my nose at you and mock you for any part you take in the social networking craze be it Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, or whatever other sites there are. There are people that I really don't want to catch up with again for old times' sake. If we weren't good enough friends to stay in touch with in the first place, that's probably saying something. I digress . . . if thinly veiled stalking and "friend" counting are your thing, than social networking is probably right up your alley. If you don't care to make a distinction between actual interaction with people in the real world versus a manufactured environment, somewhere artificially sheltered like the internet, go ahead and start an account.

That being said, let this serve as cautionary, anecdotal evidence as to why you shouldn't be in a rush to join the ranks. I can break down the article for you, one social networker at a time.

Kevin Shine - a self-described pathological Facebooker, Mr. Shine recently found himself telling all 157 of his online "friends" about the vomit a stray dog left on his porch.

Lisandrea Wentland - every time she logs on, she says, "it's like going to the best party in the world."

Whitley Leiss - a junior at Texas Christian University after abstaining from Facebook said, "I saw all that I had missed and I realized I hadn't missed anything."

I can not fault Mr. Shine, pictures of dog vomit are hilarious. If you search my blog, you'll find at least one. Poor Ms. Wentland seems to have low expectations for parties. She has joined an online quitting-Facebook-for-Lent support group, much like AA (FA I suppose), but unfortunately it might not be of much help quitting Facebook . . . as it is hosted on Facebook. I don't get the parents who signed up for Facebook to "keep track of their kids". Whatever happened to talking to them instead of stalking them? I love the stories I have heard in the past year about people getting in fights with exes because of changes to relationship status or people being de-friended. Even better is when people start calling their friends, concerned because of a drop off in Facebook activity.

Like many, including the WSJ, I'm behind the times. People have been giving up Facebook for Lent for years now. Ms. Leiss gave it up back in 2007! The fourth hit (1. her Facebook page, 2. her listing as a "friend" on another Facebook page, 3. the above WSJ article) on a Google search, the way internet stalking was intended, was this article from the TCU Daily Skiff.

If anybody needs me this weekend, you can keep track of me on Twitter. Oddly enough the updates seem to be the same . . . mocking someone or something . . . well that's weird.