Part of the problem is that we write facebook content as "public" content (i.e. the press release version of our lives) but we tend to process it as "personal"

Part of the problem is that we write facebook content as "public" content (i.e. the press release version of our lives) but we tend to process it as "personal" updates that substitute for actually catching up with someone on the phone or in person. Spot on. That's why I don't use Facebook lately, although I wasn't able to verbalize the reason so well. I feel like I'm reading PRs from my friends, and I feel like I'm compelled to write my own PR, what is time-consuming. People used to buy expensive clothes or cars to show off. Now they show off in Facebook, posting the pictures of their amazing vacations. I used to love Facebook when I had less than 50 friends in it. As my number of "friends" grew, everybody's content became more and more like press releases. It didn't happen overnight. It was a slow transformation.