By Lev Grossman
Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009
Illustration by John Cuneo for TIME
Facebook is five. Maybe you didn't get it in your news feed, but it was in February 2004 that Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, along with some classmates, launched the social network that ate the world. Did he realize back then in his dorm that he was witnessing merely the larval stage of his creation? For what began with college students has found its fullest, richest expression with us, the middle-aged. Here are 10 reasons Facebook is for old fogies:
1. Facebook is about finding people you've lost track of. And, son, we've lost track of more people than you've ever met. Remember who you went to prom with junior year? See, we don't. We've gone through multiple schools, jobs and marriages. Each one of those came with a complete cast of characters, most of whom we have forgotten existed. But Facebook never forgets. (See the best social-networking applications.)
2. We're no longer bitter about high school. You're probably still hung up on any number of petty slights, but when that person who used to call us that thing we're not going to mention here, because it really stuck, asks us to be friends on Facebook, we happily friend that person. Because we're all grown up now. We're bigger than that. Or some of us are, anyway. We're in therapy, and it's going really well. These are just broad generalizations. Next reason.
3. We never get drunk at parties and get photographed holding beer bottles in suggestive positions. We wish we still did that. But we don't. (See pictures of Beer Country in Denver.)
4. Facebook isn't just a social network; it's a business network. And unlike, say, college students, we actually have jobs. What's the point of networking with people who can't hire you? Not that we'd want to work with anyone your age anyway. Given the recession — and the amount of time we spend on Facebook — a bunch of hungry, motivated young guns is the last thing we need around here.
5. We're lazy. We have jobs and children and houses and substance-abuse problems to deal with. At our age, we don't want to do anything. What we want is to hear about other people doing things and then judge them for it. Which is what news feeds are for.
6. We're old enough that pictures from grade school or summer camp look nothing like us. These days, the only way to identify us is with Facebook tags. (See pictures of a diverse group of American teens.)
7. We have children. There is very little that old people enjoy more than forcing others to pay attention to pictures of their children. Facebook is the most efficient engine ever devised for this.
8. We're too old to remember e-mail addresses. You have to understand: we have spent decades drinking diet soda out of aluminum cans. That stuff catches up with you. We can't remember friends' e-mail addresses. We can barely remember their names.
9. We don't understand Twitter. Literally. It makes no sense to us. (See the top 10 celebrity Twitter feeds.)
10. We're not cool, and we don't care. There was a time when it was cool to be on Facebook. That time has passed. Facebook now has 150 million members, and its fastest-growing demographic is 30 and up. At this point, it's way cooler not to be on Facebook. We've ruined it for good, just like we ruined Twilight and skateboarding. So git! And while you're at it, you damn kids better get off our lawn too.
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1樓
1樓搶頭香
酷必了
2樓
2樓頸推
哈阿哈
對啊 那我有非死不可,但是沒放照片,是不是也很酷?(拿第十點亂凹)
你的nars也酷斃了!
眼影是買了rated R那塊嘛?哈 搞不好我猜錯~~~
你有買超級高潮的腮紅嘛?據說很正點啊
3樓
3樓坐沙發
哈哈nars超好用
其實是nars櫃的假男人太有魅力了啦
ps 是的 我也買了高潮腮紅
4樓
福樓
假男人有笑點啊啊啊~~~
噗!
我的高潮腮紅買了兩年多才凹一點~
好想知道超級高潮腮紅有多塞雷啊~~~
有出迷你版本就好啦
等到整塊用完我都超過30了吧!!!哈阿哈
5樓
專業的5樓
耶耶 ni妳怎麼這麼晚沒睡覺啊?