There are those that say, with some validation, that social media, particularly Facebook, is notoriously narcissistic: “it’s all about me, me, me- my fabulous children, our amazing skiing trip to Aspen, my wonderful husband, our agonizing choice between the Benz and the Beemer!”

True, that. And certainly it can be depressing to be struggling to pay one’s mortgage and debate whether to crank the heat above 62 or buy fewer groceries all the while reading that seemingly everyone else on the planet is going on a cruise or playing golf in Palm Springs.

But there are always going to be those people who can’t wait to brag about their vacations and new cars and to this I give sincere slobbery kisses of gratitude to Mark Zuckerberg and his multi-billion dollar baby because at one time, we would all have been held captive at those same peoples’ homes during a dreaded dinner invitation and considering hara-kiri with the butter knife to escape the endless pictures being handed round, plucked one by one from their photomat envelopes:

“That’s me, behind Stan, with the Eiffel Tower right behind us and, oh, here’s me a little closer to it and, oh, this was so funny- here’s me and a mime standing right in front but Stan took the picture and cut off part of the mime’s head. But he was walking against the wind while trapped in a box.”

However, with Facebook we can give all the appearances of interest, simply by clicking, “like” and typing “Wonderful!” without even looking at any of the photos before moving on to read far more interesting posts. The recipient feels all warm and gooey because ‘friends’ have dutifully replied with fawning enthusiasm over the holiday they will be paying off for the next three years and the rest of us aren’t bored to tears or choked with envy.

But that’s so superficial, you say! That means you’re not interested in interacting in the flesh anymore! Darn tootin,’ because, frankly, there are people in everyone’s life that are so draining that we pray we get their voicemail when we bite the bullet and finally return their call.

And don’t tell me you haven’t left that same kind of message: “Hey, Larry! Wow, I guess I just missed you. Anyway, got all your messages and, absolutely, I think it would be a blast to go Contra dancing with you, it’s just that I’ve got to work late for the next two weeks, can you believe it? So, yeah, give me a call, say, early March? And we’ll try to hook up.”

Giving you ample time to make up another excuse or move to Panama.

And I don’t know if social media is destroying true intimacy between people. Yes, yes, everyone is staring at screens, even husbands and wives in the same room instead of speaking to each other. But you know what? I distinctly remember the ‘Blondie’ comic strip, which often began with Blondie sitting in one chair, Dagwood in another, their backs to each other as Dagwood read his paper and Blondie, her novel.

Simply replace the paper and book with an iPad and a kindle, and what’s the difference? It’s nothing more than a companionable silence and if it goes beyond that, well, it’s simply a technological exchange for the newspaper that the stereotypical, uninterested, spouse grunts his replies over at the kitchen table.

So I say let’s give Facebook a break. It’s been an invaluable tool for shut-ins and those who desperately need to share grief or a clean MRI. It can alert neighbors to felons in the neighborhood or help track down a long, lost, dog.

Sure, it can be narcissistic but it can also be tremendously humbling as well. Because there is nothing more horrifying than preparing to take a photo on your smartphone of that juicy steak you’re about to eat to gleefully share with the world and mistakenly hitting the ‘front facing camera’ button by mistake, revealing your candid expression, in all its tired and baggy-eyed glory, with overhead fluorescent lighting to boot.

Guarantee you we’ve all hit that trash can icon a time or two… Just technology’s way of reminding us all who we really are.