Friend as a verb

When our eldest daughter joined Facebook, I did, too. I figured it was something I should do just for internet safety's sake. Little did I know that I would be plunged into the world of friend as a verb. I can't say that I really like being on Facebook, probably because I'm not cool enough to get a lot of it, and because I don't care to spend a lot of time on it because it feels like an artificial world where you have to try to be cool, which I'm not.

I have 17 Facebook friends, most of them related to me, and rarely have an idea to post as a status. I've learned recently that my eldest daughter has moved on to Twitter and Tumblr, so monitoring her safety via her Facebook wall is but a dream. I think we parents are kidding ourselves if we think we can protect our kids from bullying or overexposure or other dangers by monitoring their internet habits. If we really wanted to do that, we'd have to be with them 24/7. They're way more internet savvy than we are because they have more time to play around on computers at home and school, as well as their iPods, iPhones, etc. What choice do we have but to talk with them about their internet habits, encourage them to play it safe and trust that they'll take their parents' concerns seriously?

Back to Facebook. Yesterday, I somehow ended up on the "find more friends" page, and discovered that if I friend all my friends' friends and they friend me back, I could have 2811 faithful friends, give or take a friend or two who have already friended my friends, or friended my friends' friends. But I am nowhere near serious about friending so many friends, as I'd much rather moodle and read and work and volunteer and plan my garden and go for walks and actually talk to my kids than spend my life on Facebook.

Especially since Facebook seems to be robbing us of the word "befriend."