Facebook

I'm slow to this Facebook thing. I just learned about Walls. I stopped myself from posting on my son's Wall that he had his birthday wrong. I haven't censored myself like that since junior high when you navigated a world with unfamiliar, unwritten rules.
I don't agree with those who dismiss Facebook as too time consuming (it can be); addictive (it can be, but so is Big Love) and superficial. They say, if I want to talk to a friend I call them or we email; I don't want to hear from a barrage of people I don't care about and this is how computer viruses spread.
This morning I saw a videoclip a friend sent hiking some incredible canyon country. I learned another former colleague's mother had died and there was a flurry of sympathy sent immediately. I learned another friend had walked in the woods in Ohio and then had breakfast. And that another former colleague was anticipating the annual girls weekend I'd heard her talk about 10 years earlier when we worked together. And a bunch of other stuff.
Anyway, why are we hooked or not hooked on Facebook and why does it have this appeal among boomers? Is it like some have speculated that we're all through with high school hurts and ready now to reconnect? Is it our generational desire to be hip and stay up to date? Let me know. I have to do a story on this and I'm not sure what angle to take.