FACEBOOK FRIENDS

Steven and I were on a weekend getaway to Cape May. We stopped at Cape May Point Park and while we wandered through the different paths, Steven snapped pictures. An hour or so later we were back in the car. “Can I see the photo's you took?”

“Sure.” He began swiping through his photos.

“Oh...” I cried when I saw one I loved. “Can you send me that one! I want to post it!”

Moments later it was on my Facebook feed. “Great! Thanks.” I turned off my phone and we headed to our next destination.

After a full day of sightseeing Steven and I were finally sitting at dinner and I began to scroll through my Facebook feed. “You know it's always kind of nice to see how many people 'like' a picture you post.”

Steven moved his bread plate so the server could put down his salad.

“Oh look,” I cried. “Karen liked my picture! I've owed her a phone call for so long”

“So why haven't you called her?”

“Because we have so much catching up to do that both of us would have to have at least an hour of free time.” I complained.

“Just call and set up a time.”

“I know I really should.” I pushed my salad to the side and continued to scroll. “Whenever she posts a picture of somewhere she's gone I always hit the 'like' button.” I looked at Steven and shrugged my shoulders. “So, in a way, I feel like I'm keeping up with her.”

“Really?”

“No, not really.” I said sadly, then clicked off my phone and began to eat my salad. “Maybe I should just post to her time-line and see when it's a good time for her to talk?” I picked up my phone again and began typing. “Maybe she has some free time this weekend.”

“That's a good idea.” By now our main course had arrived.

“That's the problem with Facebook.” I continued. I thanked the server then looked back at Steven. “You think you're keeping in touch with friends by liking their posts. You see who has a birthday, a graduation, who's working on their house but you don't have a chance to ask any questions. All you do is hit 'like' and move on. No one really talks to each other any more.”

We finished dinner and while we waited for the bill I went back to Facebook to check my feed.

“Oh my gosh I love it!” I cried.

“What?”

“You know how I just wrote on Karen's time-line that I owed her a phone call? That I'd love to catch up?”

Steven looked confused. “Yeah?”

“She just 'liked' my post!”