Facebook as the Afterlife

You know the idea that when you die, you will meet your lost friends and relatives in heaven or hell? Facebook is getting weirdly like that for me.

I'm finding that most of the people that I've ever known are there. All my university dorm roommates, ex-girlfriends and junior high acquaintances - smiling back at me from my friend list - and it feels weird.

Part of it is it that I've had a few lives. I've moved to different states, continents and countries over the years - and for the most part, you start fresh with friends.

Now they're all there in one place, waiting to greet me - like angels.
dag says...

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

The only gaps are where I've lived in non english speaking countries like Japan and Spain.

It's much harder to find Japanese people on Facebook for me, because I often don't know the characters for their kanji names - and if I use romaji it brings back thousands of matches.

Also don't think the take up of Facebook is that high in continental Europe.

MINK says...

facebook big in europe don't u worry about that. even lithuania is on it.
as an expat i also find it weird/useful/spooky. it definitely changes the concept of friendship. personally i have a lot more nice aquaintances now, which is fun, but when i read about my friend's stag party which i can't go to... it's distancing rather than "connecting".

swampgirl says...

My husband has teased me for my VS habit for years... He's all into Facebook now.

He's found many old friends from high school, college and the Army. I'm not interested in hooking up w/ my past lives AT ALL.

Farhad2000 says...

I rejoined late last year in a vain curious burst of nostalgia. I found alot of friends who I lost touch with. About a week later I remembered why we had lost touch in the first place.

I rarely visit it now.

deathcow says...

something about the idea of facebook I cant stand... havent got over it yet and had the urge to join... tempted to join though so I can post "In a drunken stupor, mike just pee'd all over your wall"

peggedbea says...

facebook taught me that of all the people ive known in my life, the ones i care to know now, i still know.

oh wait.... there was that time when i found an old friend on myspace and now some years later weve been dating for like a year and im all stupid shit in love with him.

so much for my cynical theory.

Deano says...

I have an account but it's more of an experiment that hasn't worked. I have a friend who strictly uses it for professional contacts and rejects friend requests. This is something I can at least applaud. I really don't see the benefit of putting everyone who know/did know/might want to know again on it for the sake of it.

Having read a few interesting articles on the company and its philosophy and practices I'm quite sure I will be canceling fairly soon.

Having said that I can see it has real value for some people but it really appeals to a younger crowd who have grown up being used to far less anonymity that I was.

alien_concept says...

I think it mainly appeals to those people who see friendship as a quantity rather than quality thing. I agree with Bea, if I wanted to have stayed in touch with people, I would have done. There is no-one who isn't in my life that I miss, and i'm actually very happy about the fact that I have no such thing as acquaintances in my life, they're all just solid friends, I don't need any extras thanks.

I had Facebook just so I could play Scrabble and beat everyone, but I don't bother now. It is evil

youdiejoe says...

I share Dags take on this, I have moved around enough that the friends and acquaintances I have in my life are scattered around the globe. It's not a matter of interacting with all of them on a one on one basis, it just a touch stone, a place where you can check in on someone.

rougy says...

I kept off for the longest time due to the ghosts of my past. Then an old college friend managed to find me and invite me, and through him I met other college buds, then a few old high school buds, then a couple of old girlfriends (the hurt between us forgiven).

There is definitely a mixture of good and bad about it. You have to expose yourself to see the people you want to see, but then the people that you want to forget can also find you, especially if you're a man.

I never would have found any of the women because they all had different last names.

So far, it's been good, though. My high-school sweetie and I are the closest, but I have some other buds there, too.

Mixed blessing, to be sure.

dotdude says...

People I went to school with and others I didn't, but knew, K-12 and college, are now on Facebook. They are scattered across the country. So, Facebook is a nice way of keeping up with them. Some of them I haven't seen since 1975, 1978, 1982 and 1987. There are certain ones who are very networked. So, once I one connect with one, then I connect with a bunch.

A few weeks back, one friend from elementary school, informed us he would be on "The Practice" and that we should look for him. He had only two lines. He's a casting director.


An update on Bebo, just so you are informed. AOL's AIM Profiles are now Bebo profiles. You may remember that AOL bought Bebo.

BreaksTheEarth says...

I've been moving around quite a bit and so I find that Facebook is helpful in letting me know the goings on of the people I care to know about.

Sadly, it can also become a graveyard for ex-girlfriends and their friends to keep tabs on you. I wish there was a feature to hobble their access to your page so that you don't have to un-friend them, but make it so that they cannot see what you are currently up to.

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