As I was scanning my Facebook news feed yesterday, I came across a friend’s status that horrified me. “Giving up Facebook for Lent. See you all in a few months!”
Um, what?! This is FACEBOOK we’re talking about. Who gives up FACEBOOK?! How would you stalk the people that you kinda sorta remember from way back when and only have on your friends list now so you can keep up with their ridiculous statuses?!
I actually respect her decision a lot. I immediately texted her about it (because she’s one of my best friends and I needed to make sure she wasn’t giving up her phone too!) and she told me that she feels she wastes too much time on Facebook and she wants to use the time when her daughters are napping to do a Bible study. So, good for her, but I’m definitely not tempted to try it :)
I admit that I’m a Facebook addict. I have a smartphone so I login a couple times a day to peruse my news feed and make sure I wasn’t tagged in any embarrassing pictures (I mean, really, now that they’re appearing right at the top of your profile page, you have to be careful :) ).
Still, there are quite a few things about Facebook that I could do without. Thanks to the internet and social network sites, we are a generation of over-sharers. I’m guilty of it too (obviously, since I regularly blog about the walking adventure that is my husband), but there are some things that just go overboard for me. Here are my biggest FB status pet peeves:
1. TMI. I don’t need to know every detail about your day. I don’t need to read about the nasty details of your recent breakup. I don’t need to hear about your family drama. There are such things as “personal” and “private”... even when it comes to Facebook.
2. Leaving vague, cryptic messages that demand attention and comments from a zillion people. Whether you're trying to attract the attention of a specific person or a bunch of people, there’s no need to be all “sneaky” about it and post it to Facebook. Grow up, people.
3. Leaving a status where you attack someone indirectly, hoping they’ll see it. If you’re that mad at someone, why are you still friends with them on FB in the first place? And why would you want your personal drama out there for the world to see? There’s a private message feature for a reason. Please use it.
Thanks, and let's use Facebook responsibly.
Amen, sister. I have to admit that I do love reading the comment wars that sometimes ensue after that ridiculousness. One person puts all that passive-aggressive shit up there and not only does the other party take the bait, but the person who put it up in the first place is suddenly a victim who feels attacked.
ReplyDelete