served

  I enjoy looking at my "memories" page on my Facebook account. It is one of the features they got right in my opinion. I also like the birthday reminders. They are something I do check almost daily. But the memories thing is also a reminder of just how quickly time passes us by. They include the date and I often find I'm surprised by just how long it has been. The pictures of the grandkids, the little items of interest or some craft I may have posted, all from years ago. It just doesn't seem possible at times. Ten years ago? I remember that like it was yesterday. Now, what was I writing about? Strange how that works isn't it. I've been face booking for 14 years now. Prior to Facebook I did enjoy the "chat" rooms on AOL. They amused me because it was like a fantasy world, you couldn't believe a thing that was said. I certainly never took any of that seriously. It was sort of like the CB radio craze where everyone had a handle and pretended to be someone they weren't. Well, I didn't have a handle then and still don't. I'm just Ben.

  Social media has certainly changed things as information and misinformation is spread in seconds. Lots of new terms invented, acronyms added and the birth of emoji's. According to the internet they were born in 1999 by a Japanese engineer. I haven't looked up the stickers and when they appeared. Today those things may be suggested by the computer along with predictive text. I find the latter annoying most of the time. I'd just rather write what I want to write, thank you very much. I chuckle when I hear the term misinformation used, what they mean is a lie. Someone is lying about something. Yes it may be what we called a white lie but now it's misinformation. Any way you look at that, it's just wrong. All of that is being spread farther and faster every single day. 

  Facebook has become somewhat of a habit with me. I go on there every day and post my good morning. That is a habit I began years ago when I decided that the purpose of social media was to be social. I'm rethinking that assessment however as there isn't all that much cordial conversation going on. I suppose that is simply because so many feel safe and secure in their castles. Sitting in their ivory towers, their keyboards before them, they wage war. Has anyone ever been convinced of anything by a argument on Facebook? I have my doubts about that. I haven't, as far as that goes. It's a war of information or misinformation. Truth is an elusive commodity these days. It having been decided that the truth is simply what we wish it was. You are expected to "affirm" that in others regardless of your feelings. 

  It was Facebook that introduced me to this blogging stuff. I had read a blog posted by someone I knew from years back. I just thought that was pretty cool, an unknown voice on the world wide web, a published piece. I remember writing to my local newspaper, to the editor, and that being printed. That feeling remained for a while, I felt like I was being heard. Yes, it is a bit of a fantasy, I understand that, but even Mark Twain had to start somewhere. I began posting a blog of my own. I haven't stopped since I first began that on Aug 19, 2010. Still waiting to be discovered though. Well you know Alexander Pope said it best, "hope springs eternal in the human breast: man never is, but always to be blest" I'm told that what goes on the web, stays on the web, forever. An eternal voice? You should take that as a caution. Just where is all this Facebook stuff being stored and for how long? What about blogger? Just what are those "servers" serving up? Is it what you ordered?