Over the past year we’ve seen a major increase in the number of new Facebook users that are over the age of 40. In part due to the fact that anyone could join, and in part due to the fact that Facebook really is a good way to reconnect with and stay connected to friends, Facebook has become the dominant social network of the times. But does Facebook just make us all act like silly teenagers?
I’ve noticed that a lot of my older family members and friends have a tendency to morph their behavior once they get on Facebook. People who are always rational and can tell me how to get a hold of myself in the middle of a panic attack are suddenly calling and emailing me to ask for advice. “My high school crush just contacted me on Facebook. What do I do?” “What’s the likelihood of this person being a fake, with an impersonator behind their Facebook account?” “Is it narcissistic to upload more than 10 profile pictures?”
What’s amusing to me isn’t the fact that these questions are being asked, but the fact that they’re being asked by the people I once turned to for life lessons. Over 30 years removed from high school, people still get a tiny tingly feeling when they see a friend request from their high school crush on Facebook.
These are the questions I as a teenager and young adult barely asked myself–I often just acted out of a naive confidence that remained oblivious to the real world ramifications of virtual relationships. But as I look at the drama that can ensue because of a wayward Facebook wall post, an Honesty Box confession, an errantly tagged photo or a misconstrued SuperPoke, I realize that we’re all subject to the same essential social norms regardless of our age.
Facebook has become the ultimate leveler.
Because when it’s all said and done, I’ve also seen a lot of deactivated accounts from my mature mavens. It’s the equivalent of packing up and moving to a new city, or taking a month-long vacation in Spain. It seems silly to see people in their 40s and 50s go so far as to deactivate their Facebook account because of something petty. And what’s even more amusing to me is when they ask me if I noticed their sudden absence from Facebook. Now they’re not only reacting to the drama, but stirring it up by making a desperate plea for exo-Facebook attention.
Besides. They almost always come back.
So what does that tell us? Facebook is generally doing a good job at enabling people to network. And in creating a subset of our physical social structure designed specifically for the web, we’ve gained an interesting peek into the frivilous mind of the tech-savvy middle aged.
In the end, perhaps these growing experiences will help parents better understand their children. Or, as in my case, they will help children better understand their parents. Whatever the case may be, I think we as members of society, advertisers, marketers and Facebook executives should take this as an opportunity to learn from each other, recognizing the fact that no matter how old we are we’re still subject to the same scrutiny and wonder when it comes to social networking.
