Column: Just Add Water

Over the past few years, I've learned that you can make new friends and even find old ones while surfing Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace. The meetings don't involve a handshake, a "nice to meet you" or even eye contact. There's only a button to push -- click --and you're done. You're instantly friends.

Facebook status updates have even replaced many of my regular phone conversations. Instead of talking to family and friends to let them know what I'm up to, I only have to write a status update.

"Amy... is up to her ears in laundry."

"Amy... has had her nose in a book all afternoon."

"Amy... is spending the day at her kids' basketball games."

These are just some of my recent status updates.

Photo albums have become less popular, (although my mother probably would disagree) thanks to Facebook's photo-sharing options. Post your pictures, and "tag" the friends appearing in each one.

With all of these electronic ways to connect with friends, it's sometimes hard to remember the "real" ones we see and speak to each day. It's become more difficult to remember how to make new friends in person without using buttons on a computer.

Last month, I realized while watching my son's basketball scrimmage how far electronic "friending" had progressed.

My daughters and I filed into the gym one Sunday afternoon. As we found spots on the uncomfortable wooden benches, we looked around for another mom or child we knew. There was no one, only people from the other team. Luckily, I had a good book and my 12-year-old daughter had a cellphone to text message her friends.

My 8-year-old daughter Madison immediately whipped out her handheld video game and began directing dogs around on the tiny screen. I sighed and realized I might have a chance to read a page or two before the whining began.

Fifteen minutes passed and I realized everyone was still very quiet. I looked over Madison's shoulder to see how her pack of dogs was behaving.

It was then that I found her scribbling notes on the screen of her handheld game system. She had turned her game options to "chat mode" and was writing to a girl about her age with the same video game system in the gym.

It only took a few moments to recognize which girl was scribbling away on her own video game screen -- it was Madison's new friend.

Without speaking a word to each other, the girls exchanged names, ages, grades and pictures. They told each other how bored they were, which brother was theirs' on the court and what they wanted Santa to bring them for Christmas.

As the girls "chatted" during the next hour, I realized that the line between electronic friends and real ones had been blurred. And I wondered if making new friends could be done so easily, why would Madison would ever make friends without the help of electronics again? It's during days like these that I'm very thankful for our school's recess time.