Facebookin' it ...

I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook.

 

I admit, I do check my Facebook account at least daily. Often, it's more than once a day. It's definitely more often than I need to. Of course, it's easier to check often when the app is on my phone and I have downtime while waiting in the vehicle or at a restaurant. But I love that Facebook gives me the ability to be in contact with friends and family that I don't see or talk to in person very often. I love that I get news and updates from these wonderful people. I love to know who's getting married, who's having a baby, who's going on a mission, where they went on vacations, the new top movie at the box office that everyone is raving about.

Having said that, there are some things about Facebook that I truly don't care for. I don't like the fact that I have allowed Facebook to suck so much of my time.  TIMESUCKER!!! I do need to cut back on it. Maybe a little bit at a time?  ;-)

My number one pet peeve is that opinions and rants on Facebook can be taken a bit too far. I am not one for confrontations. I don't like them. In fact, I hate confrontations and arguments. Most of the time, it's not a problem, because most of my friends tend to have similar opinions to mine. Therefore, nobody argues very often. But sometimes -- I see friends of friends that get huffy with each other. Sometimes, they even use -- gasp -- CAPS LOCK!

There are a few other irritants about Facebook, and it has resulted in my taking a specific approach to my own Facebook posts. Here's my personal opinion on posting on Facebook:

1. I try to make the vast majority of my posts of a positive nature. I have a FB friend who I think was going through a state of depression. Because, for a while, this person's posts were just plain depressing to other people. Everything was all, "woe is me, my ex-spouse is making me miserable, I have no job, I'm so lonely, life has dealt me a raw deal..."

I don't want to be like that. Fortunately, my life is easier than all of that, so I do try to give my FB friends a bit of a smile when they read my posts. Everyone can use a smile, right? I talked about this a little here, too.

2. I like a good inspirational quote just as much as the next person. I do not like quotes that end up making another person diminished in order to make you feel better. I gave you a whole rant on this topic here. I also have more than one FB friend who seem to thrive on quotes..... and they post a bunch of them all at once that fill up my newsfeed. That gets a bit tedious. Especially when I'm looking for real news from friends in between the quotes.

3. One frustrating thing about Facebook is when someone posts a vague statement, that is intended as a barb at someone specific, but everyone else just ends up wondering about it. I don't like feeling like I'm being drawn in to a situation. I think someone posted a barb at me once...... but I ignored it, because I felt they were reacting to my post, which wasn't even about them.

4. I avoid re-posting things. You know -- the things that say, "re-post this if you love your daughter" or "like this if you are against drunk driving" or "share this if you think the Pledge of Allegiance should be recited in schools". It is not that I don't believe or agree with any of those wonderful thoughts. But I do think that a) just posting it on FB does not change anything, and b) I suspect that a large number of those have some sort of Internet phishing program attached to them. Thanks, but even though I believe in them...... I'll pass on posting them. Isn't it better to show my daughter (or whoever else it's referring to) that I love her through acts of kindness in real life, than it is to click on something on the computer?

5. I also mostly avoid politics and other politically correct sorts of topics. This includes, but is not limited to, 2nd Amendment Rights, Gay Marriage Rights, Racial Profiling, the current Executive Branch of the Government, Illegal Immigrants, and Welfare to The Poor.

I do have an opinion on all of those topics. All of them! I just don't generally post about it on Facebook. However..... I may "like" someone else's post or opinion on those topics. If I don't feel that it's a re-post kind of thing. (See #4 above.)

6. I avoid posting things that would be derogatory, unflattering, or embarrassing to my family and friends, whether it's a comment or a photo or a video. These people are my friends, and I'd like to keep them that way. The flip side of this is that I also don't want people to think that I'm "perfect" or that I'm trying to portray perfection. I have a bit of a problem with people thinking that other people have perfect lives.

7. I think it's a bit odd when I have FB friends that talk to me on Facebook, but then they almost ignore me in real life. Did they forget who I am? Be consistent, people! And what about the FB friend who ignores me in real life and on Facebook? Why did they even "friend" me to begin with, when they apparently don't even like me?

And finally, ...

8. When all else fails..... simply post an adorable preschooler picture. Because everybody seems to react positively from those.

Oh. And apparently that works for the blog, too. (see previous post)

I'm grinning at you. Have an amazing day!!