I'm not the OP, but yes, I have a calendar with people's birthdays in it. Every computer since the 1980's comes with a calendar program, and now they sync to your mobile phone, so there's no need to pass responsibility for that sort of thing to Facebook.
I also send (gasp) paper birthday and Christmas cards to the people who mean a lot to me. And from what they tell me, getting a real card in the mail means a million times more to them, since they know I took time out of my life to think of them and didn't just click a button and move on.
Me too, it's called Facebook.
> I also send (gasp) paper birthday and Christmas cards to the people who mean a lot to me.
Same but for those people who haven't shared their addresses , a Facebook post and/or message suffices.
Nor have I ever asked anyone that sent me a happy birthday text or call how they knew.
What matters is what you do once it's someone's birthday, not how you found out or keep track.
To me this is markedly different than your scenario where Bob nags Alice until she relents and wishes me happy birthday.
Your gcal says "Wish your friends a happy birthday!" above a box it pops up for you to do so?
The difference is that you consciously choose whose birthdays you enter into your calendar. Facebook just assumes anyone you know is close enough.
I surely do. It's not a problem to memorize a few numbers related to the people significant to me enough to send them a birthday message.
The Dunbar numbers go around 3-5, 9-15, 30-45 [0], so even "the 2nd tier" relationships' birthdays are not really that hard to remember
[0] https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rspb.2004...
I'll agree that the simple "Happy Birthday" messages people post on facebook are trite, but rather frequently I'm reminded that it's someone's birthday via facebook and then text or call the person.