Who hasn't been tagged in a friend's Facebook note, "25 Things About Me?" If you haven't, don't fret, it's unlikely you'll miss out. But wait, don't count me in the group of people disparaging this quasi-viral game of sharing tag. While I initially resisted (it felt too self aggrandizing, and the direction to tag 25 friends did feel a bit like spamming), I eventually couldn't fight the urge to see what would spring to mind. Now I'm a defender of the phenomenon. Here's why:
Self reflection is an important exercise. How many of us would have taken the time to consider what makes us who we are had we not been challenged to come up with 25 distillations of self?
In reading others' lists, I've gotten to know interesting things about people I didn't know terribly well. We get beyond favorite color and music preferences into the fears, accomplishments and oddities that fill out the somewhat two dimensional caricatures presented in Facebook profiles. A friend of mine told me that she even found out something new about one of her oldest friends from her "25 Things."
And as a result, the tentative connections between casual Facebook friends are strengthened. I've found unexpected commonalities with people I considered more acqaintences than friends, or people with whom my shared experiences are from the days of the hair bands and acid wash jeans. From the empowerment of childbirth to the fear of monsters under the bed as a child, to unrealized aspirations and deep contentment...we are connecting the dots and making the experience of cyber-friendships a bit more human.
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