http://nicholasnigro.blogspot.com/2011/11/destined-to-be-crossed-out.html
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Destined to Be Crossed Out…
*** begin quote ***
Slightly off-topic—but nonetheless inspired by my perusing this physical phone and address book—I cast my eyes to the future and ponder what, for instance, people’s Facebook friends list might look like in ten, twenty, and thirty years. Of course, I conduct this speculative endeavor of mine in a metaphorical laboratory. Foremost, I assume that all things remain equal—i.e., pretty much as they are now on the Facebook frontier in, say, 2020, 2030, and 2040—which is highly unlikely. I also presume an unfathomable reservoir of long-term patience for inappropriate behavior, the bane of countless people’s Facebook walls, and not a bountiful human trait.
Okay, it’s the year 2035, and that guy with 1,263 friends in 2011 is down to 347. He hasn’t heard a peep from at least 163 of his remaining friends for more than a few years, and 42 of them have only recently disappeared from sight and sound, seemingly vanishing from both the virtual ether and face of the earth. And since Facebook doesn’t comb through obituaries and the Social Security Death Index, nor readily delete accounts, many of these missing in action friends are very possibly deceased, and more than a few are living in assisted living homes or—worse still—in nursing homes sans any access to Wi-Fi. Who would have thought that a Facebook page enduring long after one’s death might be an individual’s best chance at immortality? Life is full of surprises…and so is death…especially now in the Information Age…
*** end quote ***
It’s well know that FACEBOOK and LINKEDIN don’t clean out the “dead”. Including in that, the accounts that are never logged on to.
Argh!
# # # # #
Posted by reinkefj 
