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Social Media Birthdays

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve never been able to have the traditional kid birthday party, because inevitably, people had other plans with their families over the 4th of July holiday. I’ve had a lot of memorable birthdays over the last 47 years, and really I never have to work in my birthday, so I’m not complaining, but it being a holiday always sort of meant not being able to celebrate with my closest friends necessarily.

Over the years, as we have moved around and now live on the West Coast, away from many of my family and friends, social media has become the next best thing when it comes to having a little mini birthday party. Thanks to Facebook and other networks reminding my connections that it is my birthday, I get to hear from a whole bunch of folks. I was joking with a friend who came and spend part of this weekend with us earlier that responding to all the messages today was a lot of work, but it was nice work, because it was an opportunity to actually interact in some small way with a lot of people, and with life being life, sometimes it takes a little birthday greeting to remind you to reach out and check in on folks. It’s a little too easy to get busy and let months go by without chatting with people who are important to you, so as silly as it may seem  to get 70-80 Facebook posts text messages, Skype IMs, etc.  and as little effort as I know it takes to send them, I still appreciate them all, as a way to touch base with folks and say hello.

For all the things social media can be, for me it’s a lifeline to all the friends, family, professional connections, and everyone else I know who has spread to the far corners over the years.

So yeah, I got to spend my birthday at home with my wife, got to spend time with another good friend of ours, ate some good food, saw some fireworks, and responded to a ton of messages. It was a good day! Hope you are enjoying your weekend as well!

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