Reinventing Birthdays for the Sake of Social Media
Don’t get me wrong, I loved Facebook birthdays at its inception, but as my friend list grew, I became more suspicious of broadcasting my day as a means for social engagement. People I have not seen in years would spend a few seconds populating my wall with comments I would never see again. It was like popcorn - empty of value, but always getting stuck in your teeth.
My introduction to the American birthday tradition was at the age of seven. My introduction to Facebook birthdays came years later in my twenties, but the two were similarly bizarre. Instead of being suddenly flooded with cakes and presents one day each year, I got virtual pokes and wall messages. Imagine the second decade of your life echoing the first, but in a hyper-virtual way with fewer edibles. Eventually, I got tired of all the superficial “Happy Birthdays” and disabled Facebook’s birthday for my account.
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