Social media needs some help with social skills.

Is Social Media just an excuse to share the tiniest scraps of ones everyday existence?

Do I really care that "Frank" is wondering what to make for dinner? Or that "Sue" just entered the grocery store looking for lemons? I find it curious that people can't just "be" without having the need to tell the world what they’re doing every moment. And then I wonder why I’m reading their musings! Surely we all have better things to do.

Remember the old days when the end of the day meant meeting for a drink to share how the day progressed? Or making a phone call to a friend to catch up? Are these behaviors passé already?

I was in a restaurant recently and observed a group of twenty-somethings who were obviously celebrating someone’s birthday. They all had a mobile device glued to a palm and each were checking theirs regularly. I suppose it’s not as rude as taking or making an actual phone call, but still, are we turning into a society of people who don’t know how to interact in person?

When we hired a summer student last year, we discovered she didn’t have a lot of email skills and we were stunned. Instead, she communicates via texting… or posts to Facebook for her 1:Many communications. My teenage son recently acted shocked that I had a Facebook page – he thought it was the domain of teenagers.

So I started thinking about how and why I use Facebook. I’ve certainly discovered long lost friends from school, college and jobs around the globe. But I’ve also fallen into the trap of reading posts by friends that are simple notations about what they’re doing (“Watching my kids play at the park”). And I’m thinking why are you posting instead of playing with your children?

I’m trying to be smart about Social Media… just like I try not to call people during the dinner hour (does that show my age?). I try not to tweet about the mundane (would people stop following me if I did?). And I try to blog about topics that might interest others… am I off base here? Does anybody really care that I’m sipping a diet coke and wondering if I’ll have time to stop at the dry cleaners on the way home?