What’s on your t-shirt? Are you a “local celebrity,” or are you, unfortunately, “with stupid”? And seriously, how addictive is that status update feature on Facebook?

People wear slogan-ed shirts for a reason. Still, since we often make a concerted effort not to judge books by covers, maybe we shouldn’t judge people by the T-shirts they wear. But it’s always nice to encounter a little more information about the people who intrigue us. And we certainly all enjoy tantalizing tidbits of information, whether Google-learned or freely offered, that make us want to learn more.

This brings us to a contemporary addiction that also provides insight into human self-perception: the Facebook status feed. This insanely popular social networking tool asks us to define ourselves, as many times a day as we’d care to do so. “Esther is on deadline.” “Deb is contemplating a great day.” “William is, and therefore he thinks.” As information goes, it may not seem like much. But if done right and changed regularly, it does tell your friends everything they might need or want to know. (Or at least everything you’d want them to know.)

Check out my latest Jewish Week singles column, “Honest-Tees: A Song of Ourselves?“.