Another Reality Check.
I had another reality check this past weekend.
Sort of on the same lines as THIS ONE.
I discovered this past weekend that an old and dear friend of mine, one that I had recently reconnected with on Facebook, lost his mother to cancer. And although he updated his ’status’ about it in hopes that I and others would find out and join him in prayer, I did not find about it until this morning.
Why? Because to date, I have 1,014 friends on Facebook.
Many of whom I have never even met.
While I am someone who firmly believes in the power of social media, it is times like these that I realize that when unfiltered, social media can often become more media, than social. In other words, it is far too easy to equate our numbers with actual depth. When we confuse the two, we miss out on incredible opportunities to truly engage with others, primarily because our platforms have been cluttered with too many things (and people), many of which we do not have the time to commit adequately to.
So effective January 1st, I intend to change things up a bit.
I am creating a Facebook Fan Page for this blog, so that those who have found delight in some of the ramblings and writings I have provided here, can continue to do so through that platform. At the same time, I intend to DECREASE my Facebook ‘friends’ down to no more than 120. Hopefully less.
While many may disagree with me, I find it extremely doubtful that anyone I know has more than 120 (actual) FRIENDS in reality. In this life, you are blessed just to have 3 or 4 that you can truly rely on. While I have indeed connected with some great people through this platform, I cannot allow one-time connections to outweigh (or distract me) from full-time commitments.
If Christ turned the world upside down with 12, then surely 120 will do for me.
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Category: Creative Leadership, Life & Faith
I was faced with the same problem recently. I would find myself interacting with only a few of the friends on my list so I started just deleting. I understand, and although you don’t know me, want to encourage you in your decision. BTW if you delete me as a friend.. I will not be offended. Peace & Blessings
Milan, that is without question one of the most relevant and truthful blog topics that I have ever read on a number of points. The whole concept of connection is one of intimacy. Much of that has been lost due to our misuse or overuse of technology in some cases.
Thank you for sharing from a personal perspective the importance of friendship and its potency. All of us should make the distinction between people that are a part of our lives versus those that are just in our networks.
I am sooo with you on this one. I think people are more out for popularity than actually connecting with people and identifying with people as you have. I read your sermons and words through the daily devotionals so, I will also be on your fan page once you start the cleaning process. I am soo glad someone actually spoke on this.
Right there with you. I started hiding people on my FB page which allowed me to focus on those who added value or those i really wanted to “stalk” while still allowing me to keep the social aspect of it all…. Praying for you man…..
Thank you so very much! This is something that I really needed to hear. I have watched over the last few months as my FB friends list has taken on a life of its own. As you, I will be restructuring it so that I can see who is important verses those who I have no direct contact with. I also wanted to say that I have found your postings and devotionals for Streaming Faith a blessing.
Facebook and sites like it have made it easy to forget the difference between friends and acquaintances. Now your friends will no longer be lost in your myriad of acquaintances.
I attended a business meeting about social media etiquette. The hostess talked about how people had connected with her on FB to gain access to her network of people ONLY for the purpose of finding new customers. After making money from her friends, they were done with her. What kind of friend is that?
intimacy in a social setting is not just given readily to those that I haven’t developed a relationship with. because if it is then it wouldn’t be called INTIMACY…..
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by milanford: experienced another REALITY CHECK this morning // and effective January 1st, I will ensure it won’t happen again: http://tinyurl.com/y9f8a2v…