This year, I’ve resolved to reconsider Facebook. Perhaps, like you, I jumped on this bandwagon to stay hip as I courageously approach senility.

I reckoned a snappy Facebook page would keep me young — abreast of the action, tethered to movers and shakers.

I steadfastly rebuke skin care products, Cialis and Flomax — opting to just go with the flow, if any.

Today, I have lots of close friends. Eliot Cutler’s my friend. I just wish he were our governor. I also wish “retired journalist” M.D. Harmon would stop writing — call it a career already — and “friend” me. No luck there.

I check my Facebook page religiously every month to see what’s up. It’s perplexing what some folks rush to post on Facebook believing it to be of some value or interest.

And photography? Please. Have you ever seen so many bad pictures? Drunks partying, pets recovering from surgery, old decrepit codgers claiming to be high school classmates. They look like prospectors or spooky “Deliverance” guys.

I know the incomparable immediacy of social media is irresistible. Overthrowing governments used to require pitchforks and torches, now the downtrodden just tweet.

Why is it imperative for friends to “like” your lunch?

I think we need more thought and less immediacy in the world today. Even grisly gunslingers used to take a moment before drawing to ask, “Dang, exactly why am I doing this?”

Yup, I’ll forgo Facebook and just write occasional opinion letters to float alternative ideas, promote reality or question the lunacy that passes for conventional wisdom these days.

I certainly don’t need Facebook to find material; I just step outside.

So in 2012, should you see me somewhere quietly enjoying a beer, just let me finish it.

Buddy Doyle

Gardiner

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