I joined Facebook on the 16th of May 2007 (thank you, Timeline).  Since then, the vast majority of my friends have signed up to the site, with the number of those that are still stubbornly resisting the social media revolution being counted on one hand.  Not only has Facebook become firmly entrenched into most of our lives (particularly if you are under 30), there has also been the introduction of many, many more social media players vying for our personal data, from Twitter and Bebo to Instagram and Linked In.

I am typically relatively slow to jump on any bandwagon, usually due to sheer ignorance than avoidance.  This was the case when it came to Florence + the Machine (I think I “discovered” them at least 2 years after it became mainstream), and Breaking Bad (only heard about it 2 months ago, and am only halfway through Season 2 when Season 5 just launched).

Eager to be on the front foot for once, I signed up to Twitter and Instagram quite a while back with all intentions of tweeting about being stuck on a bus in traffic or posting pictures of my breakfast.  After all, these updates would be a lot easier and quicker than writing a proper blog post.  However, I have struggled to embed them into my day-to-day life for the exact reason that my day-to-day life is pretty mundane.  Who the hell cares that my Weet-bix went soggy while I was distracted by the news that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are touring Australia next year?  And who cares that I think the barista at my local cafe is not only pretty handsome, but he makes a damn good coffee too?

This is the direction that our social interactions is going.  Just as we ingest our news in short tickers and web browsing in our lunch hours rather than sitting down to watch the 6 o’clock bulletin or read a whole newspaper, we substitute long phone calls and email conversations with check-ins at the gym to let our friends know that we are now on a health blitz, or tweet a broad request for the best Mexican restaurant in Sydney.  In the end we may have more interaction with a wider circle of people, but the quality of those interactions diminishes.

Ultimately though, we will still make time for those that are important to us.  In the meantime, I will persevere with the tweeting and instagramming.  Perhaps it will force me to find an interesting perspective on whatever it is that I’m doing or see every day scenes in a new light.

This shiba inu dog meet on the weekend was organised on Facebook!  A great way to meet fellow shiba owners.