Throughout the lifecycle of this blog, I have written quite extensively about Facebook and its alluring siren call.
I have written so much about Facebook, actually, that it could probably merit its own category.
I didn’t intend to write about it so much. It’s just that the ubiquitous social networking site has provided so much great blogging material.
For example:
- Finding my first kiss
- Reuniting with high school friends
- The “30 Reasons Girls Should Call It a Night” phenomenon
- Finding my old campers online
But today marks the very last blog post I will ever write about Facebook*. Unless Facebook reunites me with a twin brother I never knew about or it offers me an extra kidney, there is just no reason left to write about it.
Except for this one last thing: my mom has joined Facebook.
When my friend Baby Bien’s mom’s joined Facebook a couple of months ago, it was a great day of celebration for Go Pats and me. That’s because we got to ridicule him until we made him cry.
“Your mom’s on Facebook, ha ha!” read the crux of many of our IMs and e-mails to him.
Shortly after, though, in a day that would shock me to my very core and make me question the very fabric of the Internet’s existence, I received a friend invitation from my own mother.
At first, I thought it was a joke, some prank concocted by Baby Bien as retribution for mocking him. I mean, my mom still has a Prodigy e-mail account, how the hell did she figure out how to join Facebook?
But no, it was true. My mom was on Facebook.
First came the friend request.
After a week of pretending not to notice, I accepted reluctantly.
Then came the e-mail:
Hola [Arjewtinito],
Esto es divertido. Encontre mucha gente (joven todos) que conozco.
Muchos besos, mami”
How could this happen? How could my own mother figure out how to turn on her computer let alone join the world’s most popular social networking site? How could I let my guard down? I never talked to her about Facebook. Why, God, why?
Then came the poke.
“[Mami] has poked you,” read my notification.
Hell, no, this was not happening.
I ignored it.
She poked me again.
Oh, for the love of…
“My mom keeps poking me,” I told my friend INPY.
“That sounds so wrong I can’t even respond,” he said.
Apparently, though, many parents are joining Facebook more often and are friending their kids and their kids’ friends. It is becoming something of a trend.
How do I know this? Because it’s also happened to my friend MJ. In the world of journalism, three of anything is a trend.
Even the New York Times wrote about this phenomenon.
I haven’t responded to my mom through Facebook even once and, from the looks of her “feed”, neither has my brother. No messages, no writing on her wall, no comments on her status.
And NO poking back.
It could be worse, though. It could have been my grandma.
* I reserve the right to suspend this promise at any time for any reason.
{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
MamaBear and Pops are frighteningly in to Facebook. This weekend I called and after I was informed of the status of all their animals (individually, natch), my mother added, “Oh, and Pops adopted a puppy on Facebook and named him Dusty! He is so cute.” Oh, dear LORD. It has come to be being updated on virtual puppies. Screw you, Facebook.
Also, MamaBear announced my younger brother’s engagement on FB. At the bottom of the post, she said “And (Lemmy) is still in DC”. Thanks, Ma…thanks.
Lemmonex’s last blog post..Taking a Stand
That’s really funny. Goes with the whole “…and with us as always…” vibe that parents give off when discussing their multiple children.
My mom still doesn’t quite know what facebook actually is, nor has any friends… my sister accidently sent the wrong link for her pictures while she was abroad. My mom thought she was signing up for my sister’s photo album.
“MJ, help! I don’t know what the facebook is!”
The end is nigh, i tell you. Parents intermingling with their kids on Facebook? What is this world coming too… I thought getting ‘friended’ by my 17 year cousin (with her VERY inappropriate pictures) was bad enough. LOL!
And I’m now off to Facebook to look at your friends.
http://zen-denizen.blogspot.com/2007/05/facebook.html
Zen’s last blog post..The thrill of dating and the agony of Ameet
See, a year ago when you wrote that, the image of Facebook was so different that having a 30-year old man on there was weird. Now, not so much.
I hope.
I hope the day never comes that my mother friends me on Facebook. I weep silently for you.
Not really.
You sob loudly?
My parents might know about facebook, but they don’t care. My mom reads but won’t comment on my blog; she doesn’t want to “invade my privacy”.
You obviously are not Jewish. Ask Josh about that.
Next thing you know your mom will be off Facebook and onto Ning. Or worse Tumblr. This will all end in grief when she begins sending you relentless text messages.
CPO’s last blog post..Tonight: Kosher Cooking and Kurds
The worst will be if she ever discovers Twitter. “I tweeted you!”
my mother tried to add me as a friend on something called “Tagged” recently. I haven’t responded, because I secretly believe it’s spam. And if it’s not spam, it’s still creepy.
jordanbaker’s last blog post..This makes perfect sense.
Wait. Your mom knows about a social networking site that neither you nor I know about? THAT is scary.
My mother reads my blog and then will make random comments to me when I’m over for dinner.
Oh and the best was when she PRINTED OUT ONE OF MY POSTS and GAVE IT TO HER BOSS. It was b/c her boss started reading Twilight, and it was my post about it, but still. Hi, I’m Mortified.
The funniest part about that is that she printed it out. On paper.
My mom and my aunts are all on facebook, I don’t mind actually… but then again my mom’s always been ahead of the curve on the tech-stuff
My mom couldn’t program our VCR. “Press play and record…” ; “What? That’s too hard.”
my parents still need me to explain ‘what is this facebook again?’ whenever i bring it up. but my mother has used so many real-world opportunities to embarrass me, i really feel i’m not missing anything in this virtual sense.
all i can say is i’m glad i’m not a teenager. can you imagine your mom sending you love notes when you’re trying to impress your 10th grade hottie crush? the horror.
My mom, a teacher, used to threaten to work at my school if my grades slipped. It worked.
If my mom joins facebook I will just sit in my room and start sobbing.
then play guitar hero.
rs27’s last blog post..Storm Into the Party Like My Name was El Nino
What the hell is Guitar Hero? Kids today…
Thanks for the link!
While it’s weird to have my grandmother on Facebook, it’s something I can deal with.
What really kills me is my mother-in-law. Not only did I get friended by her, I was also friended by her DOG… on something called “Dogbook”. C’mon people, let’s stop pretending dogs can use computers. Unless they invent some way of projecting the smell of someone’s crotch through the tubes, I know my dog’s not interested.
Of course, if that happened, the dogs can have the internet…
Norf’s last blog post..My grandma is more tech savvy than yours…
And you just won Comment of the Week.
I think the next step after animals is to have a social networking site for abstract concepts. Like Gravitybook or UnguidedPrinciplesbook.
I was so excited when I started to read “today marks the very last blog post”, but then I saw it was just for Facebook topics. Maybe next time…
You and your aunt are so mean.
Um, if my parents even came close to finding ANY of my profile information or my blog, all traces of me on the interwebs would vanish. Absolutely vanish. As if I never existed.
k8’s last blog post..Therapy Tuesday
Think they’ve at least Googled you?
You’re mean! Even I wrote on your mom’s Facebook page!
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. You’re a much nicer person that I am.
After ridiculing an acquaintance for joining Facebook I had to eat my words when I joined a year later. The reason pure and simple networking/job search. I would never friend them or their friends because there are some things I just don’t want to know - they already tell me too much.
Still I am a Twitter fanatic, blog and all the rest and I wonder can I require my children to put me in a rest home with decent WIFI?
Five Husbands’s last blog post..Hurricane Katrina, Sarah Palin and Pork - UPDATED
I still don’t get this whole Twitter thing, could you explain it to me? Why would anyone want to know when you brushed your teeth or picked up your dry cleaning?
Oh no no no. The day my mom gets facebook is the day I get rid of mine.
Maxie’s last blog post..I have a wish.
It’s a pretty scary and disorienting phenomenon, let me tell you. But I must be brave and persevere.
Oh don’t be mean! Poke your mother! It’ll make her feel good.
Crissy’s last blog post..Is that Horse Shit or am I an Asshole?
You are a sick, sick woman.
I must admit. My mom is also on “the Facebook”. Just wait until she starts changing her “Relationship Status”. Eek.
Twitter is great. Just a sampling of some of the people I “follow” on Twitter: Questo of The Roots, Jim the MSNBC cameraman in the Washington Bureau, and a couple of venture capitalists like Steve Jurvetson and Joi Ito. It’s officially known as “micro-blogging” but I think of it more as “mass text messaging”. Anyhoo.. I also have it setup to automagically update my Facebook status with my last ‘tweet’. Nice.
Rory’s last blog post..#3 Method for proposing marriage to an individual - Application US2007/0078663
But what exactly do you tweet? That you went to Target and they were out of your favorite deodorant? I’d rather read good writing and well thought-out stories than the random musings of someone.
My Mom IS on Facebook and I haven’t accepted her friend request yet. Does that make me a bad son?
Narm’s last blog post..Putting the Gyp In Gypsy
Nope.
But I’m curious: has she said anything?
yeah yeah yeah, your mom joined facebook.
more importantly why aren’t we FB friends?!?
I don’t Facebook people from Cleveland.
pobre de ti. And in other news, my mother refers to it as “myface” so I believe I’m safe for a minute until she gets her networking sites squared.
So, are you going to friend her?
eileen’s last blog post..Bah
In the end, yeah, I friended her. I’m not a monster.
MyFace is awesome.
My Dad still uses AOL. I’m not worried.
Becca’s last blog post..I tried to hang on to the past but I couldn’t keep my grasp
My folks are passed on - no FB pokes, but I have to worry about ghostly eavesdropping.
MY kid - 7 - wants his own FB account and blog. No. So he uses mine (FB, not blog, he’s still holding out for his own blog). I warn my FB friends to be wary of incredibly random app attacks, also no XXX-rated stuff please. I guess if it encourages reading and computer literacy, I support it - so far, so good. Wonder what he and his sister will think of ‘befriending’ us on whatever devices they are using in 10 years? Still leery? Or will it be so routine that THEY demand that we be thoroughly linked up or they’ll think we don’t care enough? Hmm??
Connie’s last blog post..International Day of Peace
my mom wouldnt know how to get on facebook, and she doesnt speak English anyway…
I checked your blog thru my iphone and i was surprised how AWESOME that looks on the phone!
Cool!!!!
noe’s last blog post..And the Oscar goes to….
From my mom:
FYI:
my email account is with gmail.
I TIVO my favorite programs.
I work with a very sophisticated computer program for administrators: Welligent System
I do not go to FACEBOOK anymore.
Many computer tech people are not very smart.
mami
Arjewtino’s last blog post..The Facebook blog post to end all Facebook blog posts
I don’t have a facebook account. I really have no idea what this says about me when peoples moms have jumped on a trend before I have.
eric’s last blog post..Vacaton…