A positive impact of Facebook on social interaction

Facebook is often depicted as an alternative to face to face interaction. Many professors, sociologist and scientist write about the negative impact of Facebook on social interaction. However, Facebook saved me from an awkward situation the other night. This situation set in a motion a series of positive events, that might otherwise, have been negative if not for one status update. In that moment I realized that Facebook does have a positive effect on interpersonal communication.  

A friend and I went to a movie earlier in the evening and afterward we decided to go to a restaurant that I had worked at for a couple of years. I asked to sit in the section of one of my old co-workers. He and I used to be pretty good friends. He was one of the first people, at work, I told I was pregnant.  He was also a big help at work when I was a huge, pissed off pregnant lady. While we were both employed at the restaurant so was his long time girlfriend. By the time I quit the three of use has been working together for almost two years.

Of course I had been Facebook friends with both of them and upon log in one day, I learned that there relationship had ended. Now, if I had not read that post my nice night out and his night at work might have been ruined. Because I had read that post I knew not to ask about her. I knew from a few other posts that it was hard and many people in their inner circle were affected by it.

Facebook gave me the social edge that night, had I not been “friends” with them I would not have known about the break-up. Inevitably, if not for Facebook I would have referenced them or asked about her that night. Although, this was just one of many social interactions I participated in, this was the only one that made me pause and think about how our online relationships often spill over into our interpersonal communications.

Social media not only connects us to events that we cannot directly participate in, but also helps to shape our face to face interactions with our friends, relatives and co-workers who are also in our Internet circle of friends. Navigating these relationships is not always easy but thanks to social media I successfully married my online life and my real life, and in the process I learned a valuable lesson. Facebook has made it easy to keep track of my friends, once I weed-out the Farmville and goofy kitty pictures, my friends real lives are there on my computer screen. I can choose to interact with their posts or just keep them in the back of my mind.