Monday was my birthday. When I got up I already had about a dozen birthday wishes on Facebook, and they kept coming all day long. The wish-bringers were people I haven't talked to in years, my closest friends, and even people I didn't think had any interest at all in me or my doings past being +1 FB friend.
It felt very, very good. Facebook is so impersonal and makes it so easy to be casual and friendly as opposed to being any sort of real friend, but getting birthday wishes from over 70 people from all parts of my past really brightened my day. I've gotten pretty bogged down in the details of life lately, not taking near as much care of myself or my friends as I should. It doesn't take thirty seconds to type out a quick birthday wish or even, "I'm thinking about you and wish you well," just because.
There are plenty of bad things about Facebook. I don't really need to enumerate those, but I think many people (including me) are so inured to the convenience of Facebook that they forget how easy it is to take a few minutes and make someone's day with a short, personal message that they are truly cared for however distantly. It's really easy to be a passive Facebook user, browsing posts and looking at pictures of my nephews and sharing funny photographs, but I want to spend more time reaching out to old friends and truly keeping in touch meaningfully.
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