Through the years, you've probably accumulated a laundry list of "friends" from different stages of your life. Some "friends" you keep around because you want to see what they're up to, others you want to keep in regular contact with and the rest you're just too lazy to "unfriend." (Why do they make that so hard to do?)

I first learned my dad's birthday when he sent me a request on Facebook. For years, it was one piece of information that haunted me. When had the person that had given birth to me received life? I contemplated it as much as wondering the exact day he decided to leave me behind.

Once upon a time, perhaps in high school or college or both, you had a very special sweetheart. Maybe two. Possibly eight. Whatever. At the time, you were madly in love with each of them. You did everything together, mostly sex. For some long-forgotten reason, you broke up. Now, 30 or 40 years later, you wonder whatever happened to them.

I fear that our children are witnessing the erosion of the true meaning of the words "friend" and "like.