Thumb Crack

For me, the word “Facebook” conjures images of books of mug shots at the police station or high school yearbooks. No one looks good there.

I‘ve watched too many Lifetime Channel movies in which someone like Kimberly Williams or Valerie Bertinelli harmlessly post a photo online and they have their identity stolen, or become a victim of stalking, or some other horrible thing happens to them or someone they love (almost certainly to their beloved pet).

I’m not a luddite. I like my privacy. My friends don’t even have my cell phone number. And I never twitter or tweet.

So, when one of my dearest friends, who lives three states away, sent me one of those automated pleas to join Facebook so we could be “Facebook Friends,” I declined, three times.

I was a late convert to email. And don’t get me started on texting! (Thumb crack!)

An old roommate told me that he had posted photos of his recent trip to Israel on Facebook and I should look at them, so I accessed them through someone else’s Facebook account. There, we found a list of photos showing some of my roomate’s “Facebook Friends.” I looked in horror at what could have been a photo of me for all the scary computer criminal world of pet snatchers to see. My nightmare!

To my surprise, I found a link to a long lost friend from college, who is now considering becoming a nun! She is one of the last women I would have expected to be blogging from a South African convent. You think you know someone, and twenty years later they are out nun spotting.

There have got to be easier ways to meet like-minded people than the humiliation of a poor picture posting!

By chance, I was sent a notice today about a web service which matches individuals who experience mental illness on the theory that it is easier for people to meet someone who accept them as they are, if they disclose upfront that they have experienced mental illness. The site is http://www.trueacceptance.com and for now, its services are free. In addition to social matchmaking, the site has a number of links to resources for individuals who experience mental illness.

In Licking County, there is a program which will not find you a mate, but will find you a friend. There is an application process, but, membership is free. The Compeer Program not only matches trained, compassionate volunteers from the community with individuals in recovery from mental illness, it also provides monthly opportunities in which they can meet and enjoy social activities. Last week, we had a Hawaiian Party. Next month, we have four different activities planned and they are all free of charge.

I will continue to meet my friends at the Compeer Socials. You will not be seeing me on Facebook in the near future. I still use the United States Postal Service and UPS. My dog, however, is considering opening his own webpage.

--Kristen Frame
Compeer Coordinator