Missing the important stuff

A few days ago I found out a very good friend of mine had died several months ago. I hadn’t heard about it and, of course, I had missed his funeral. It was very upsetting news, especially because I had found out so long after the fact.

His passing had been announced on Facebook, but as I hardly go on that site (in fact I wonder why I have an account at all) I missed it. In just a couple of weeks those messages had dropped off my timeline, replaced by reams of banal tripe. The important things, in this case literally life and death, drowned out by the noise.

I can’t rant too much about this, I’m as guilty as anyone for posting (to Twitter, mainly) more than my fair share of trite nothings. It’s easy to be shallow online, and really hard to be genuine and heartfelt. For true relationships you need, at least occassionally, physical interaction. Words on a screen are a poor reflection of real life.

I’m not sure what the answer is. If I come off Facebook entirely then I may miss important news. But if I stay I may miss it too, unless I dedicate my life to keeping up with the firehose of messages.

Gah. I guess I just miss my friend.