I’m about to celebrate a significant ten-year anniversary. I joined Facebook in the fall of 2005, so gather round and let grandpa Dan tell you what Facebook was like back then.
Facebook itself was only about a year old, and only open to college students. I wasn’t one, but I had an "edu" E-mail address from NIU and joined when a student made a “page” for our class.
Anything I posted on Facebook was immediately read, but privacy was not even in the conversation and, when class ended, my “wall” continue to fill with their quotidian musings—always in the 3rd person back then—about dangerous, illegal, and occasionally pornographic acts that they engaged in.
I stopped using Facebook for the class and, since no one I knew in real life was on it, didn’t look at it for years.
Facebook may be ubiquitous now but, in fact -- as Time magazine recently reported -- young people aren’t joining like they used to.
When my oldest child was 12, he lied about his age to get a Facebook account because one had to be 13. Just four years later, my younger child’s 13th birthday came and went without her even thinking about Facebook. Her friends are on Snapchat and Instagram. Nothing seems squarer to them than Facebook, where grandmas post vacation photos and rant about the demee-crats.
So, happy anniversary Facebook. The guidebooks say a ten-year anniversary should be celebrated with tin -- but also says tin is outmoded, so aluminum is an acceptable substitute.
I think I’ll stick with tin. A nice reminder that something so ubiquitous and useful can suddenly find itself unceremoniously tossed aside for the next thing.
I’m Dan Libman, and that’s my perspective.
