FACEBOOK ADDICT

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF RFETIRED PEOPLE (2009) JULY-AUGUST/

• DELEHANTY

The writer got hooked when he communicated with an old friend that he had not seen in decades. There was something he wanted to say and he said it. The other person could not remember the incident, but something inside the author clicked. He was now out to find old friends and worse yet, FAMOUS PEOPLE. Or. They say they are famous. Soon afternoons, week ends, even in the middle of vacations, he would get his laptop behind a bush and start face booking on his lap top.

Right to his face, his wife called him a face book slut. That’s right. She said right to his face. He was sharing his charms with others and not her. He made jokes about it and did all of his usual tricks to win her over so that he could go on with his addiction.

It did not work. Those famous people would return long e-mails that sounded like they were who they claim to be. So? He came along. He even exchanged messages with Al Pacino. Then one day, Al signed off.

And so he started charting his life around Face book and then he knew that he needed help. So he went into therapy. Further, he was able to get into local groups and they all had about the same story.

Slowly, his old life is coming back and he can go to Face book only a few hours or not at all. The Face book crowd is a fast crowd and if he did keep up they left him behind. There is just a father who is wedded to the mother. Oh, there may be a sperm guy somewhere around. Casual fathering is kind of fun. You play with the child a few nights a week and then you go out with the guys.