The Facebook Toy

When we first come on Facebook, many of us have a set goal or two we want to achieve.
For me, I wanted to try and find old high school friends and possibly find a better way to stay in touch with my current, local circle of friends and relatives. I suspect that most of us start out with these two things in mind. Many parents go on Facebook to monitor their kids, but they learn that is futile anyway, as you can't see what goes on in private. I have quite a few friends who found that out the hard way. Now, they never go on FB either way.
After a while, you learn that you can find all sorts of new friends all over the world, and you begin to do that. Then, you basically friend anybody that you can. I did that.
You are the social equivalent of a kid in a candy store.
As time passes that wears off. You just get tired of it and it becomes a lot of fluff. I am at that point now.
The Facebook Toy, that was shiny and new and you played with constantly is now beginning to lie in the corner of the closet under those dirty clothes that you never wash. I feel that way now.
The newness wears off and you are left to evaluate if there is any reason to play with it anymore.
I am at that stage and many of my fb friends who were once very active are also at that point.
I have made some great friends on Facebook. There is no doubt about that. People who will be lifelong friends and I enjoy bantering and sharing with immensely. For that, I am thankful and in some way I will continue to pursue that in the hopes of making more. But, so many are just not worth the effort. They start out great, but they fade so fast. I think we have all found a lot of that and have taken to re evaluating what we are doing on here and why we are doing it.
The Facebook Toy is getting old now, and shortly, I am sure a new more interesting toy is going to come along. Until then, a lot of us are trying to figure out if we want to keep playing with the old, worn out toy.
For now I continue to, but that new car smell has worn off and that will never be replaced. Maybe that is a good thing and had to happen. Either way, it has.