And the word of the day is:
Facefriend /’feɪs frɛnd/ n.
1. An acquaintance verified as a friend on the social networking site Facebook.
2. A “friendship” that exists solely within the confines of Facebook.
One of my most enduring Facebook group memberships is in the group “I Feel OK about Rejecting Friendship Requests,” which I joined shortly after signing up for Facebook. Despite knowing good and well that only one in twenty-seven people will ever read through all of my Facebook groups, I want as many as possible to know that I am still the master of my social sphere.
For a while, rejecting friendship requests was enough, but inevitably I would receive numerous requests from the same people, making me wonder if they would ever rest until I confirmed our Facefriendship. Sometimes, I would succumb, but typically I would endure the mind game of who would tire first. [As Facefriends rarely see each other, the person and I never had confrontation about the limbo Facefriendship.] To keep from rejecting the same requests, I ultimately allowed them to sit in my notifications queue for several months, effectively stymieing forty some-odd requests for most of a year. That’ll learn em.
But I tired of that game as well; I returned to the original strategy of confirming my companions and rejecting those questionable relationships. However, no amount of prudence and meticulous judgement has kept the circle comfortably small. As of this moment, I have 826 Facefriends and counting.
Considering everyone I know and consider close enough to warrant friendship, I have come to the undeniable conclusion that I have far too many Facefriends. Even if I factor in family, classmates from high school, and various other far off acquaintances, there is simply no way that I have 826 close friends. Having long since abandoned any vain quest of assembling as many Facefriends as possible, I suggest a new tack:
Ladies and gents, please join me in celebrating the first annual International Facefriend Elimination Day.
The holiday, celebrated on on the fifteenth of July [or the fifteenth of any month, for that matter], is a time to celebrate the legitimacy of friendship and throw off the inane social pressures exerted by a glut of technological indoctrination. To participate, locate your Friends list on Facebook and eliminate any Facefriends you chose.
This seems cold, I know, but trust me when I tell you that there is hardly a more liberating cybersensation than to bid adieu forever to a person or two that you have not spoken with in your entire life. The beauty of this process is that Facefriends will never know of their removal from your list; therefore, on the off chance that you actually encounter the person in what we call “the real world,” you can still remain wonderfully cordial.
Now, if you enjoy your feeds being inundated with trivia about people whose names don’t ring a bell in the slightest, feel free to abstain from celebration of this novel holiday. [I mean, I can totally see the appeal...] As for me, I will gladly take one more step in reclaiming my humanity from “The Book.”
If you missed July 15th, don’t worry—another glorious IFED is coming your way next month! Happy International Facefriend Elimination Day, everyone!
I totally understand.
At first, I felt a little… embarrassed that I didn’t have so many Facefriends. Then I thought about how silly that feeling was.. to feel socially inferior because I do not claim friendship with as many people.
I think I have filtered my FB friends list twice and I agree, it was quite liberating to see the result as a list of friends that I consider to have made an impact upon my life and wish to continue those friendship.
By: Cousin-but-almost-sister Jill on Thursday, July 16, 2009
at 9:23 pm
Right after graduation I made a couple sweeps through my friend list and “unfriended” quite a few people I’d met in a class or through other friends but never interacted with beyond that. I had been planning to do it for quite a while, so that made it all the more enjoyable. Not that I had anything at all against those people, but if we never talked to each other while we were attending the same college I doubted we would start after we had left.
However, even my pared-down friend list could still use a monthly evaluation. I recently approved a few friend requests against my better judgement and have been slightly uncomfortable ever since. Now you have inspired me to get rid of them!
I really do believe (at the risk of sounding like an overly dramatic Luddite) that things like Facebook severely cheapen the value of friendship and cause real friends to be lost in a sea of acquaintances. I don’t think we should do away with Facebook or avoid it, but I do think we ought to be careful. Thanks for a good post reminding me of that.
By: Kelsey on Friday, July 17, 2009
at 6:27 pm
[...] celebrates the first annual (read: monthly) International Facefriend Elimination Day! I can’t wait to see what Hallmark has in store for this one. [Hark, I hear the Harpsy [...]
By: 7.18.09 Featured blogs of the day – Student Bloggers on Saturday, July 18, 2009
at 11:19 am
Hey Alex! you are my hero. I lost my fb page in a password change, and so the second time around am keeping it under 100 friends. Ah, the liberation! I really don’t need to know what everyone is eating at Panera, or what song lyrics are on their minds, or…well, you know.
Thanks for doing your job at Honors Symposium–I wish Jay and Rob had been in your session, or you in theirs, rather.
Enjoy the fall rehearsals–we know you are going to blow everyone away as Scrooge!!! (We sneaked in the second night to hear “the doooooor creaks…” last Homecoming–awesome!)
By: Alice on Wednesday, July 22, 2009
at 9:35 am