Silver Medalist Facebookers

In line with my list of the top 3 types of "new" Facebookers, I saw on Headline News that 4 out of 5 people consider their FB friends' statuses to be annoying. Haha! This made me laugh. Moving on.

My second "new" type of Facebooker that has emerged onto the scene in the last year is the following:

Type 2, The Silver Medalist of new Facebook types: The Baby Boomer FaceBooker
Most rampant offenders: Your parents' friends

Lord, help us all, the world must be coming to an end. A little background, if I may: In 2004, my sister and I, at SMU and Vanderbilt respectively, opened Facebook accounts as it was all the rage at our schools and we were especially excited that our schools were cool enough to have it before others -- mainly before it opened up to the masses at public schools. (I will add that I'm sure Vandy got it before SMU :) ) Anyways, my mom was horrified at the idea. You're just going to put your picture and your information out there for all the world to see?, she asked us. She was uncomfortable, to say the least, but we assured her of the many Facebook privacy settings and went on our merry updated ways. Flash forward to 2011, when she asked me how she could create a Facebook account for herself, since her friends were donig it. *Now, we still haven't created it yet, because I think she is still mad at my sister for saying she wouldn't befriend my mom (lol), but I'm sure it's coming along one day, and cue the gasp, I gladly welcome it. I'm hoping for it, actually, so that I don't have to open up my account every time my parents want to see a picture of someone's new grandchild.

My all-time favorite quirk of the Baby Boomers who have taken over Facebook, is this: no one has taught (most) of them the stealthy ways of the Facebook double-life. Maybe, they just don't care, and I love it. The double-life, known to most younger FBers, is, let's face it: stalking someone at the privacy of your home (work) computer and then politely talking to them at a party without mentioning any of the 1,200 photos you saw of them hanging from a lantern in Cancun last year. You can rest assured if your parents' friends see a picture of you from the night after your last final exam of your first law school semester, it's going to come up over a game of Bridge.. or two. And, on top of that, they'll mention it to you and probably comment on it 4.5 years after the photo was taken. This, I love. Let's all be more free like these folks! Who knew that the Baby Boomers would bring about a new wave of FB-ing: the freedom to stalk and be stalked and talk about it at your leisure. And bring it up in, cue the gasp, a real live conversation. I told you the world was coming to an end.