Facebook Intervention

Facebook is an interesting creature or entity if you will.  It has its really good attributes and it has some really negative ones.  As I stated in my Disclosure, I hate it every other day and it is  because of the reasons following.  I heard somewhere, I can't remember where or from whom at the moment, that Facebook is really for your enemy to keep up with how well or not-so-well you're doing. People tend to Facebook stalk those they hope aren't doing as many fun things as they are or they are checking to see how much weight you've gained from high school to present day--which is not fair - I tend to fluctuate.  Not everyone does that but if an anonymous poll were taken...well, what would you answer?  Hey, I'm guilty of checking on old friendships, ex-boyfriends, and yes, my current "frienemies" too.  I do, however, love to see new pictures of my Facebook friends and tend to wish them all well.  I also believe that it's a great platform to share information and general messages to everyone you know all at one time. I love using it to let the masses know that I wrote a new post (okay, masses may be a bit strong of a word...it's probably more like fifteen of you.  And I adore each and every one...eh, thanks to all of you that read this).

There is a dark side to Facebook; one can sink into a horrid Facebook addiction quite easily. When you reach this point of inability to stop looking at pictures of people hours after you should have been in bed it may be time for a Facebook intervention.  You know what I mean - you start looking at a friend's picture and then you see someone else you know that's been tagged in a particular photo so you click on them and start the whole process over again.  Plus you spend time reading everyone's comments and you sit there with red, crusty eyeballs trying to decide how many different pictures you should click "like" on and if your comment is witty enough.  Or you make sure to add enough comments that the chosen "friend" knows you were there and thinking of them (but were you really?  Or did your chain of picture clicking show a person tagged that you had to click on and then you saw this other person tagged that you forgot you liked so much so you had to click on them too and that was about seventy-some-odd pictures later?)  At some point I'm pretty sure I'll see that my long-lost second-grade friend is related to my brother's uncle's second cousin...and snap!  I don't even have a brother!!  But according to my Facebook math I should, as well as a hairless cat with two heads...darn you Facebook math!!!

Worse than the lack-of-sleep-Facebook stalker is the person that counts on Facebook to give them affirmation of their level of friendship with someone.  This is the saddest of all issues and an intervention should be planned immediately.  Yes, it can hurt to see that your closest group of friends may have gotten together without you.  Yes, it sucks to see that someone you hold dear may not have written on your "wall" in weeks or months but you see activity and comments they've made to others.  GET OVER IT!  And get over yourself.  We all Facebook surf differently and the fact that you can get your feelings hurt over my not telling you that I thought of you when I was eating a scallop the other day is ridiculous.  Please, for the love of sanity, stop that!  Here's an idea; when you're picking your crushed heart up off the keyboard try to think back and count how many times you didn't comment on a comment that someone commented on and then "liked".  Furthermore you're not getting payback when you remove your comment either.  Silly.  Are you sitting there fantasizing that when someone sees that you removed your comment they jump up and scream in pain and then fall to the floor debating if they can go on living their lives without your friendship??  Been there done that!  Of course I just marched upstairs and demanded that my daughter add her comment back.  Anywhoooooo...there's no time frame on when someone should answer you or comment back and there's no rule saying that they need to at all.  There's no Facebook etiquette class taught at your local community collage.  If you really want to know something then you...now brace yourself...CALL them.  <gasp>  How barbaric!! Besides, I may never go back and look at the comment thread or I may forget to, or I may actually be trying to find the answer to your question.  I may be confused that you even wrote something because the last time you said something nice to me was during the last solar eclipse (unless that was recent...I'm trying to say that it was a long time ago dang it)!  I can promise you this though, I actually get a chuckle at the "remove comment slap in the face" attempt.  I hope that most people find that as amusing as I do.  It's really funny when you bring up the comment thread to comment back and it's just <poof>...gone!  My reaction goes like this: "DOH!  Ooops...hahahahaha!!  Whatev's."

On a more positive note with Facebook, I love that I can keep up with my parents, aunts and uncles, my sister and her family, good friends, etc just by typing in a website.  Isn't it cool that we can give a virtual hug just by making that little heart thingy on someones "wall"?  I can never remember how to do that (sorry to my Aunt L and my Mom...they've told me like ten times each) but I adore getting them.  If you're addicted to making others feel warm and fuzzy on Facebook then an intervention is not needed...I will certainly volunteer to be an enabler!  But seriously, try to keep your Facebooking in check because before you know it the day is over and you're trying to have a normal "in-person" interaction on five hours of sleep...and unlike when you're on-line your dark circles will show.

If you think this post is about you then please read my Disclosure yet again.  If you still think it's about you then maybe you should consider getting some help.  And if you're mad because you're sure it's about you...well no worries, my Laser Puppy is bored and would love to come play with you.