Facebook.... Narcissism We Can Do Without

I've always heard that a 10 year class reunion is spent with everyone telling how successful they are and how they've "made it" in life. But the 20 year reunion is much more fun because everyone has outgrown that need and is more focused on really reconnecting. Almost five years ago, I found this to be so true! Even though there were fewer classmates who attended the 20th reunion, it was so much more fun! Everyone was real, instead of being on a mission of self-promotion. Not to say that we weren't proud of our fellow classmates if they had made a nice life for themselves. We were just proud to all be together again and picking up right where we left off. I not only saw this with my class, but with the class before me. The class of '83 has always been so sweet to include me in their reunions because I was so close to so many of them in school. I went to their 10 as well as their 20 year reunion and I found the same thing to be true. It's like all the walls came down that everyone builds after graduation. Everyone is focused on their future and that's understandable, but human nature is for us to build up a wall around ourselves and not to share things that might not be viewed as success to others. By the time that our 20 year reunion rolls around, most of our walls come down. Maturity is one big reason, but I think for the most part it's that we all realize that no one's life is perfect and we realize that our classmates care about "us"..... not what we've done, what we can do for them, who we know, etc. Think about it....

Now in the age of Facebook, we don't have to wait on the reunion to reconnect. My favorite thing about facebook is that we can all be "real". We can share our frustrations with our children without the need to make everyone think that they are perfect. We can share frustrations with life's daily issues without the need to convince everyone that our world is "perfect" & why isn't yours??? LOL! We can complain about paying insurance and other bills without the need to make everyone think that we've all got big, fat bank accounts and money isn't an issue! We can complain about our weight, hair (or lack of), etc. We can share that we're having a crappy day without the need to make everyone think that every day is a perfect day at our house! I could go on and on, but I hope this gets my point across. Bottom line.... if you're using FB for self-promotion, you're missing out. It's so easy to pick out that person. It's someone who could care less about how others are doing. It's the one's who only want to tell you how great their life is and never stops to ask about yours. If you're a narcissist, it's time to quit FB!

We are all proud of our kids and it's so much fun sharing pictures of their accomplishments. I'm not saying not to share our own accomplishments either! I'm just saying that if the only joy someone gets out of Facebook is telling everyone how great they are and how perfect their life is..... they're missing out!