In past years, I always thought of social networking as going to events where people gathered and were able to chat with each other, such as public suppers or chamber of commerce events.

Then along came Facebook, the online social network. Given the opportunity to read a good book or go online, I’ll take the good book any day. I had no interest whatsoever in checking out Facebook. My grandsons spend quite a bit of time on it and encourage me to do likewise, but I have resisted.

Then one of my advertising customers e-mailed me a link to her business Facebook page telling me the information I needed to create her ad was available there. Here’s the deal. To visit a Facebook page, even when invited to do so with a link, one must register and create their own profile.

That didn’t seem like such a big deal so I did as I was instructed. The next thing I know I was bombarded with e-mails from people who wanted to be my Facebook friends. I could either ignore these requests or accept them and far be it from me to ignore someone who wants to be my friend, so I accepted them.

Then I was bombarded with e-mails from my Facebook friends’ friends who wanted to be friends with me, too. I was astounded how popular I was suddenly becoming. Then came all the invitations to participate in virtual snowball fights, Farmville, Mob Wars and a whole host of other virtual games. I was so overwhelmed that I retreated to my favorite chair and put my face in a real book.

I’m sure that all my Facebook friends and my friends’ friends now think that I’m anti-social. Maybe I could start an anti-social network, but then again, I have neither the time nor inclination.

For those who enjoy online socializing, I say more power to you. But for me, I’ll spend my spare time in a real book and when I feel the need to socialize, well, the way I see it, there’s always a public supper and a good meal somewhere.