Now that I’ve downloaded the Facebook application to my Blackberry, I now get all friend requests (all 1 of them a week) as quickly as technology makes possible. Typically I look at my friend requests remotely and then check them out more thoroughly on the site. It’s not like I’m that popular or that I get so many requests, but I like to see people’s faces, or friends we have in common before I connect with them.
After all there are those nudie photos of me on my profile picture. KIDDING.
So when I opened up my Facebook notification today and saw my latest friend request, I did a double take. Could it be? Could it really be that my friend’s MOM just friended me on Facebook?
I laughed for about a second when my brother and sister-in-law friended me in the span of a week. They are in their 40s and have tween-age children, so I figured if anyone from their family was on the site, it was my nieces.  But after my 30-second chuckle, I realized that they, like my young self, probably have a lot of friends online.
But my friend’s mom? Of course I can’t see who she’s friends with until I confirm her request, but I can’t decide if I really want to let into my Facebook a mom I’ve known for 20 years.  Who saw me with bad 80s hair and will now get a peek into my married life. To deny her would offend her, but to friend her may force me into Facebook hiding.
Ah, the dilemmas of the technology age. What would you guys do?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I have a hard time saying no on Facebook. I just confirmed to friend my husband’s ex GIRLFRIEND. I have issues. My Mom has a blog and is on Twitter. Craziness!
Steph
My mother-in-law is on FB and friended me. I gave in. It was a little strange to try to explain a few status messages at first, but now I look at it as a way for her to see a different side of me – the side of me that has a diverse network of friends from various stages in my life. So far, it hasn’t censored me much.
Weirder for me was the neighbor guy who used to babysit my sister and I occasionally who friended me. Way weird to be swapping parenting stories with the guy who would hog all the pizza.
I have FB issues as well. I recently had to friend one of my co-workers that I don’t care for at all. SHe doesn’t have any kids and is constantly telling me how I parent is wrong. To deny the request though would have been a slap in the face since her office is right next to mine. I guess I won’t be blogging about her any time soon since I connected the two to hopefully gain a little bit more readership.
You can just accept the friend request and then delete the person later. Most people won’t notice if you delete them, and if they do, you can just blame it on some computer glitch.
Argh! Another reason to stay away from Facebook!
I think you have to accept. I had something similar happen to me. I was at a luncheon when I ran into a friends mom. She proceeded to tell me she loved my blog and read it every week. I found myself embarrassed and uncomfortable.
I understand how you’re feeling about this but you really should accept her request. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t review your profile and delete any compromising pictures/information first.