But then, one after another, friends and family were joining Facebook, and wondering why I wasn’t.

I guess it’s just that I’ve always been protective of my image online – my name, face, and thoughts are already expressed on various websites – some authorized (WITF.org), many not (Wikipedia – thanks, anonymous person, for creating a page about me, and all you other anonymous people for editing it. I’m glad you care enough to do that - just remember, there’s a fine line between fan and stalker). I just didn’t relish the idea of having yet another site to worry about.

But an ever-growing percentage of our society has made social networking a part of their daily lives. Facebook claims some 500 million active users, and that half of them log on daily.

The trend hasn’t escaped us, of course, here at WITF. We’ve been talking about Facebook on air for years now, exploring its implications, both positive and negative, and WITF's own Facebook account is becoming more active every week.

And that brings us to my decision to join – as WITF received more comments via its Facebook page – and many of them seemed to relate to Radio Smart Talk, the writing was on the wall: Time to climb out from the analog rock I’ve been hiding under and say hello to the FB world.

It’s been an eye-opening 26 hours. Already, I’ve noticed how people who know me from different contexts relate to me differently: Consider these examples, all responses to the word that I was on Facebook.

First, the reaction from very old friends:

Chris: “THERE YOU ARE! How fun to catch up with you! Now FB will never be the same and I'm glad for it!”

Beth: “I am so glad you are on Facebook. I kept thinking ‘Craig should be here.’”

Not a hint of irony. Just honest, heartfelt appreciation that I’ve joined the legion of FB users.

Now compare that to friends I’ve made in more recent years:

Melissa: “Oh. My. God. Craig Cohen is on Facebook. *oink oink flap flap*”

Sean: “As I live and breathe ... I never thought I'd see the day, Craig. It's the end of an era.”

Matt: “Welcome to the dark side. Hehehe”

So, what’s going on here? Have I been so overly protective of my online image in recent years, so unwilling to dive into social networking, that my friends today see me as some old, outdated anachronism, a fuddy-duddy, a relic of a bygone era when people called each other on old-fashioned, wired devices called telephones to communicate? Or (gasp) spoke to one another, face-to-face?

Have I become, in fact, a caricature, the classic “technology avoider” we hear about in market research? Is it really so shocking that I’d inevitably end my Facebook holdout?

Or, am I merely hanging out with a slightly more flippant group of friends?

Maybe it’s a little bit of both.

Then again, maybe we’ve all changed a little bit.

Perhaps in our Facebook/Twitter/text/hyperlink/Google/easily-distracted-point-and-click world, we’re all becoming a bit more flip, and a tad less deep.

That’s what author Nicholas Carr thinks. In his new book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, Carr argues that our brains change in response to our experiences, so, just as the printed book helped to promote attention and, in turn, deep and creative thought, the Internet promotes speed, efficiency, and optimization. In other words, the Net is remaking us in its own image!

If that’s true, I may be in trouble. Radio Smart Talk is a program designed to present depth and context, something we’ll try to do when Carr joins us next Tuesday, August 3rd, in our final Matters of the Mind program for the summer. Hopefully, I’ll be able to tear myself away from my Facebook page long enough to read Carr’s book.

In fact, I’ll start reading it right now.

Just as soon as I confirm one more Facebook friend.

And respond to a wall post.

And add a photo to my Facebook album.

And edit my profile.

Anyone know where I go to find Farmville?

- Craig Cohen