Even the Pope thinks we’re on Facebook too much. In Father Benedict XVI’s message for the 43rd Annual World Communications Day (created by the Second Vatican Council to provide an annual message for the church to its people and the rest of the world) he said:

“The concept of friendship has enjoyed a renewed prominence in the vocabulary of the new digital social networks that have emerged in the last few years. The concept is one of the noblest achievements of human culture. … We should be careful, therefore, never to trivialise the concept or the experience of friendship. It would be sad if our desire to sustain and develop on-line friendships were to be at the cost of our availability to engage with our families, our neighbours and those we meet in the daily reality of our places of work, education and recreation. If the desire for virtual connectedness becomes obsessive, it may in fact function to isolate individuals from real social interaction while also disrupting the patterns of rest, silence and reflection that are necessary for healthy human development.” - Boston Globe

Wow. Agreed. Yes the “desire for virtual connectedness” has become “obsessive” for some (me) and it can absolute “isolate individuals (me) from real social interaction.”

Hmmm I wonder how the Pope feels about the annoying over-usage of “OMG” all over Facebook, instant messenger and text.

If you want to take you Facebook friendships to a face-to-face level takepart / and add the Facebook Meet-up application http://apps.facebook.com/meetups/ to your profile. Meet-ups take online social networking offline. Search by interest and zip code, and find what you’re looking for. You’ll get a list of relevant events that have been listed in Facebook.