TMI

I, like almost everybody I know, am on Facebook. Before Facebook if I wanted to stay in touch with old friends from college etc. I had to hunt them down and make a constant effort to remain in contact with them. Facebook bridged the gap and made it easy to be a fly on the wall of their lives so I can see their photos and know what's been up and vice versa, while still living my normal busy life.

The pendulum has swung WAY too far in the opposite direction, though. For example one of my friends just broke up with his girlfriend. I've only met his girlfriend a couple of times but she added me and a number of other mutual friends on Facebook. When they broke up, she deleted him from her friends list but left the rest of us. And she is talking some shit. It's not my place to get involved but I kind of like hearing only the one side of the story, the one that doesn't completely vilify my friends.

But that's just a miniscule example. It gets worse. WAY worse.

Another girl I know has a photo album dedicated to her miscarriage. I'm serious as fuck. There are pictures you would expect to see - pregnant belly, ultrasound photos - and then there are pictures that NOBODY should have to see. She was pregnant with twins and lost them at around 5 months. And she still took pictures of them with little tiny hats on, with rulers next to them to show just how un-developed they were, and their footprints. She was devastated when she lost them. OK, dude, I completely understand you gotta do what you gotta do to cope with this, but there are some things your family, friends, friends of friends, and the cashier at the Shell station should be shielded from.

Then, finally, there's my cousin. She is 15 or 16 and I had to delete her from my friends list because I couldn't deal with the unending stream of high school bullshit in her status updates. A couple weeks ago I stumbled across her profile when she commented on a picture a mutual friend posted. What caught my attention was the thumbnail picture next to her comment. I clicked on it and saw a larger version of the picture - my underage cousin posing in front of a mirror in a lacy bra and panties. I wouldn't dare post the picture here because it borders on kiddie porn.

OK, there are bigger problems in the world than finding out your cousin's a slut. But I believe if you told George Orwell or Isaac Asimov that in 2011, you could see what your former coworker's miscarriage looks like by clicking a button, they would have said you're full of shit.