That’s from a classic Far Side cartoon featuring two bears in a circus, one of whom is holding a muzzle in his hands. It came to mind today when I read Conor Friedersdor’s At What Age Will You Stop Using Facebook?

Imagine 7 years spent living in a college dorm, or 15 years spent attending the parties you went to in your twenties. Now imagine yourself perusing a Facebook stream daily for a full 25 years.

Doesn’t that just feel like too long?…

The popularity of Facebook among older people today doesn’t really tell us much. Like everyone already grown up when social media came along, they experienced the addicting novelty of remaking long-lost, far-flung connections while in between tasks at work or waiting for the onions to caramelize. People who grew up with social media all along will experience it differently in middle age.

I don’t know the answer to the question, but I suspect that I’ll be on as long as people I really care about (my grown-up kids) are on it.

But raising the question is very worthwhile, because it implicitly suggests that Facebook is something that one could use for a time then abandon, or switch off for some period of your life then reactivate– that the assumption that your life should alway; that perhaps there are times when we can choose not to live lives on display (displays that work to the benefit of marketers and the distraction of acquaintances, as well as the possible enrichment of friends).