A Weird Dream About Facebook ‘Friends.’

Just in on a facebook conversation with someone who had attained his full 5000 friends. What do you do after? You get a new e-mail address, a new profile and then you begin on your next 5000, he says as though everyone does it this way. I couldn’t tell if this is his second go-round or his fifth. In some circles, obviously, gargantuan lists of friends are probably the status symbol. Makes the friend lists more tawdry all the time. For some, they are proof of your worthiness in the world.
Speaking of all the potential friends out there, last night I dreamed that some of the unknowns whom I have befriended, in particular some highly skilled at hacking and computer wisdom, had everything in place to blow up the world this afternoon. They didn’t seem at all detered by the fact that they would go along with it. I was eavesdropping with disgust as they finalized their plans and speculated about what was in the centre of the earth – was it liquid or volcanic or just what.
I could see it would do no good to tell anyone, not at that point. I didn’t expect to be believed but I bitterly felt I shouldn’t have friended them since at least I wouldn’t have known about their vicious plan and I couldn’t stop it anyway. Their faces are still vivid to me as I write this, immature, maybe early twenties, definitely nerds with no concept of what living and life could be for each of them, just proud that they had the capacity to end the lives of everyone on earth. Didn’t actually seem that far-fetched in terms of motivation.
This morning, after the dream, I began to wonder what I’d think if everyone I knew had had the same exact dream? Would that make me believe it must be true? Mass hypnosis. I await this coming afternoon with real interest.
But it made me wonder if these vast acres of strangers I am friending are weighing me down. Lately I have been quite conscientious about clicking on their supposed profiles, as I did a redhead with a finger up his nose. Obviously a made-up person. His photo was an illustration from a children’s book, his info said nothing at all personal, he had six nondescript friends. Some groups out there are likely inventing games in which your ‘friends’ figure as unknowning players. Understandable, given the drawing power of all these strangers, innocently living their online lives without regard for what significance they might have in the larger picture.
I think this is where my dream comes from. A sense of manipulation from what was originally intended as a simple organ to communicate with actual friends and family, now a massive connect with Abduls, Satyrs, Chongs and many other lovely names whose existence I would not have been aware of before, that yearning to know the lives and stories of others, to help if I can but not to hurt and destroy – a sense of the vast vulnerability of those who are not gaming and scheming with nothing to lose but only getting on with it.
While I have no wish to add to any of this behaviour, I can’t help but see the overview as potentially dangerous. And yet I continue to connect and friend on.
N0te – For about five minutes this morning, I had a different title on this post. Then, as I signed off and went to put the coffeepot on, I realized where I had written ths post and what might be construed from my title. So I rushed back to the computer, logged in, found this post amongst the 61 others, quickly deleted the title and put the one that exists now and says much more accurately what I REALLY meant. No, I know of NO facebook people or anyone else with any diabolical plans at all. I am in a little town in Canada and not privvy to anything unusual, honest. It was a dumb title to use and I dumped it within five minutes so, fingers crossed, nobody got unduly alarmed and all is well?