Facebook Friends

I have a handful of people in my life (outside my own family) who I could properly call "friends." These are people I could call on at any time of the day or night. People who would jump in front of a bus for me. People who really know me, insofar as anybody can know somebody else.

On Facebook, I have scads and scads of "friends." About 60, at last count. Most of these folks really are friends of mine, in the general, easy sense that we use that word nowadays. Some are people from my past, and some are people that I've never actually met face-to-face.

But they're not friends in the true, deep sense of that word. Not friends the way Jesus calls his disciples friends in the Gospel of John. In that sense of friendship, most of my Facebook friends range from "relatively close acquaintances" to "people I know only by name."

The frustrating contradiction contained in our ever-increasing reliance on technology is that, while we can stay in touch with more people than ever before, we tend to have deep and meaningful relationships with fewer and fewer.

Don't get me wrong. I write this as one who loves technology: I am writing this blog post while logged on Blogger via wireless Internet connection and checking my cell phone for voicemails.

But I also think our technology addiction inhibits the formation of relationships and communities. Think about the amount of time we all spend plugged into our gadgets (and tuned out from the world). Think about the way contemporary worship services often base their "relevance" on their use and mastery of the latest technologies. These things are problems.

Anyway, I write about Facebook friends in my latest UM Reporter column. I'd welcome your throughts.