I measure my Facebook friends by quality, not quantity

We all complain about Facebook, about how much time we spend there, how much information they gather about us, how little privacy we actually have.

But very few of us actually quit.

Here comes the judge

I know one person who did. She was my first girlfriend in 1970, and she spent very little time on Facebook. She quit completely when she was appointed to a Superior Court judgeship in her home state.

Now that I think about it, I can think of a second person who quit -- my lovely daughter-in-law. She and my son are doing their best to maintain their privacy, no easy task in this modern world.

It's ironic that my daughter and her husband use Facebook for all it's worth. Of course, one big reason they use it is to keep family and friends up to date on what's happening with their wonderful children.

My grandchildren, two already on the field and a third one warming up in the bullpen and due in November.

Between Facebook and weekly calls on Skype, I'm in closer touch with my daughter anywhere in the world than I was to my first wife during the last year of our marriage.

Bada bing!

I have 209 Facebook friends, which if I judge by how many friends my friends have, is probably slightly below average. My friend Mick has 647 friends, but then he was always a more sociable guy than I was. My younger brother has just 15, but he doesn't really use Facebook at all except to keep track of my daughter and her kids.

My guess is that at least a quarter of my friends are people I never met. Some are fraternity brothers from different years and some are interesting people around the country who like to keep track of what I'm writing.

Fine with me.

But of the people I know, I've got ...

... three friends who were close enough that they stood up for me at my first wedding, 39 years ago yesterday. They're in California, Florida and Virginia.

... two other friends who go way back, one to 1965 and one to 1971. I'm happy to see both of them are doing well, one in Colorado and one in Florida.

... colleagues from four of the seven newspapers on which I worked, including three who were my bosses in Virginia, North Carolina and California.

... two teachers from high school, people I liked very much and am glad to see still active.

... two women I might have married if things had worked out a little differently at the time, and a third one I actually asked, but the only answer I got from her was "You're not serious."

... my late father's closest friend, a wonderful writer.

... his son, another wonderful writer.

... the classiest person I ever met professionally, formerly a Washington Post reporter and now a star on ESPN.

... my younger brother, as I mentioned earlier.

... a half-dozen people I played a lot of years of fantasy baseball with, some of whom I still miss.

... both of my children's mothers-in-law.

... my son's brother-in-law.

... a former colleague who weighed more than 700 pounds when I knew him and now is in the mid 200s. He's an inspiration to us all.

... two friends who passed away, reminding me that I'm getting to the age when life starts taking more things away from us than it gives us.

Facebook certainly isn't the reason I get up in the morning, but it is one of the things that I know each day might bring me some kind of pleasant surprise.

That's why we do it.

That's why we'll keep doing it.