Birthday Blues?

I recently had the enjoyment of having another birthday. While it's true that I'm a year older and this presents some interesting experiential questions--like "where does time fly?"--the most sociologically interesting thing to observe was that pretty much NO ONE knew it was my birthday.

Well, I shouldn't say "no one." My family knew, and all called. My girlfriend knew, and got me a delightful present. A few other friends knew. So it was a good day--full of LEGO.

However, the vast majority of my other friends had, apparently, no idea. This would be, I am extremely confident in saying, because it wasn't on Facebook.

I removed my birthday from Facebook sometime since my last birthday (because I remember the long lists of "Happy Birthday" posts), mostly to foil any prospective identity thieves who might be out to rob me. I suppose it's a half-hearted measure, but it satisfied whatever little impulse of privacy concern I had at the time. The important thing to note is that I didn't change it back.

I should clarify that I'm not mad, sad, or even glad that "no one" remembered my birthday... mostly just observing the huge extent to which Facebook has replaced our memory for keeping track of birthdays. Who bothers to write birthdays on calendars anymore--except maybe for children/parents/grandparents who aren't on Facebook? Okay, maybe some people still do it, but probably not for very many people--only the people whose birthdays will be a major event on those days. Certainly not for people whose birthdays merit less than a card.

In this respect, I'm no different from anyone else. Back about 6 years ago, before Facebook, I used to have quite a few birthday names on my calendar--family, distant family, friends (even a few online friends). Now? I don't even have a calendar.