Like an acquaintance without any sense of boundaries, Facebook has been getting way too pushy and wanting to know weird details about my personal life. It's getting creepy.
A section titled "Did You Know?" popped up on the left sidebar of my personal Facebook page in December, and I'd always ignored it. But this past weekend, as I sat waiting for a long document to print, I idly clicked on the little orange cloud. I was instructed to answer a question.
Scrolling through the questions initially felt like prepping for the Friendship SATs.
Facebook wanted to know how I "disguise my lack of sleep," what was the last book I'd read without "skipping over anything" and the funniest thing that happened "when I was looking at my phone while walking down the street." Because I take sleeping, reading and walking upright seriously.
I was starting to notice unnerving patterns within the questions. Whereas one question invited members to share "the best piece of advice I got from my dad," the one about mothers prompted, "I cannot stand when my mom . . . ." Even my deceased mother was tweeting about that slam of parenting inequality.
Most disturbing, however, were questions about a favorite pet, whether I lived in the town I grew up in, and the first car I ever drove. Call me cynical, but my credit card company wanted to know precisely the same things.
At the very least, I could start writing some questions for Facebook, such as "What is your favorite bank routing number?" And "What are the last four digits of your favorite Social Security number?"
Friends have to get to know their friends, right?
Editorial on 03/11/2018