New Vocabulary

Our language is forever evolving....new words are continually being added. I have been told the English language vocabulary is the largest of any language. I believe it. I have been working with a new word "unfriending." It is not a very pretty word at all and certainly has negative connotations. Maybe it was purposefully designed to lay a guilt trip on us....to keep this illusion of social networking as a good thing.

Granted....it can be a good thing, but I find that for the most part it is a way to be nosey without really being involved in other people's lives. I pop in on someone else's profile, read a bit, glance through the pictures and leave no footprints. No one knows I was even there. It occurred to me that maybe that wasn't the point of networking. If our purpose is to connect with people, then communication is essential. I have to stop and say hello, leave an encouraging word or comment and pay attention to how I can be used in their lives. Our lives are connected and greatfully so.

After looking at our Facebook friend list, I realized that this was another area that needed to be paired down-we are doing alot of that right now, cleaning out, streamlining so to speak. I went through and asked myself if there was any real connecting going on with those on the list? Was the communication positive and productive? Were we really engaging in each other's lives or just peeking in? Many of those on the list we communicate through other avenues; many we don't communicate with at all. Some it is the only way I have of communicating with them. Those were the questions that determined who we unfriended...and in just a blink...we cut our list down by over 40 people, and I am sure there will be quite a few more to go.

Instantly I started getting messages and phone calls. I expected that, but for some, we haven't talked at all...NOW...they want to communicate. OK...hmmm.....I just have to ponder the implication of that!

I was telling a friend of mine when she commented on how mean that is, that our purpose is to communicate especially with those that we don't share our daily lives with and when that purpose isn't being fulfilled then there just isn't any point to it. I wouldn't keep it at all except there are a few people that we only communicate with through facebook, and those relationships are important to us. My brother hasn't called yet, and I am wondering if he will even notice that I cut him! As much as I love him, if he has time to play all these facebook games but no time to say hello to his sister or even tell her happy birthday, then he doesn't make the cut, and he didn't! Bet he never even realizes he doesn't see me on there.

Making life changes is necessary and making hard choices is part of those changes. My husband and I have to go forward, we have to use our time to the maximum, and social networking is only a positive when it builds connections. We learned new vocabulary....even if it isn't our favorite word...hopefully we will choose better and not have to make these kind of choices too often.