THE AGE OF FACEBOOK

I had held back on creating a Facebook account for as long as I could, but only through coercion, intimidating blackmail and downright bullying was I forced to go down the rabbit hole. Maybe I exaggerate, but, that’s the way I’m telling this story, so, suck it.

But, where were my fears founded on, really? Did I have no desire in taking part of the whole social networking? Was I being too much of a hipster to do what everyone else was doing? Maybe I was being paranoid and thought Facebook would trace everything I did on my PC and let everyone else know? I’m guessing it was a combination of all three, plus the notion that I would develop an addictive personality towards it.

Of course, once I had my account up and running, I realized that my fears were terribly silly, and accepted it as a great form of communication and broadcasting of sorts. Also, I steered clear from the whole Farmville thing going on in there. Just listening to people talk about their pretend tomatoes and whatnot creeps me out.

However, I find it a bit boring at times, unless you decide to follow sites with noteworthy articles and/ or videos to check out from time to time.

What baffles me still is what some people find worth mentioning on their status. It’s as if Facebook is a DIY for tabloid exposure, assuming they feel like celebrities based on how many FBFs (Facebook Friends) they have. Take a simple example, with things such as “LOL! @myself with @bffoftheweekend partying @ trendy club/ cool bar/ someone’s-birthday-we-crashed!!” First of all, it seems as if these kinds of things are to show off just how incredible their social lives are… Whenever I do go out and pictures are taken I don’t feel like I have to post it on FB. Yet it isn’t that annoying when I think about how they announce their awesome weekend or whatever, because I can choose to keep scrolling and never mind them. Still, it makes me want to go back to a time when that wasn’t necessary. Maybe that’s why I like watching Sleepless in Seattle in which Meg Ryan uses her journalist savvy to find out about Tom Hanks, instead of googling him, or When Harry Met Sally in which if Billy Crystal wants to know what Meg has been up to he calls her and asks her directly, instead of going through her facebook wall. Or maybe, I really like Meg Ryan movies.

Certainly, everyone has seen posts from their FBFs about:

- Pictures of meals. This one is weird, but doesn’t bother me much. I just wonder if you’re truly hungry you might want to get a knife and fork not your phone to take a picture.

- Those who comment on how bad their day was but are ambiguous enough to make others reply in concern… this one is mostly a popularity contest.

- I once heard of a couple who proudly published a picture of their daughter’s passport. Um, to them I would say bird brains, much?

Then, there are those who are my personal FB nightmare. The people who for some reason post every single thing they do throughout the day. EVERY. SINGLE. THING. Seriously, it’s like there’s no more mystery between us anymore. From the moment they wake up, to the moment they are posting that insomnia will just not let go at 2 AM (perhaps you should put that phone down and start counting sheep), it is a constant one- by- one of their whole lives. It’s as if they would love a reality show about them, but facebook is the only outlet available.  

Or, maybe they suffer from the same kind of memory loss like Drew Barrymore did on 50 First Dates, and they need to put it up on their status so they will know what they did the day before. Unless that’s the case, I might just “unfriend” them, because I didn’t sign up for that. (FYI, it is being shown to me right now that “unfriend” is not a word… yet another casualty provided by facebook). Some people just have to prioritize on what is important and what just isn’t because nobody cares enough to know how much traffic there was on your way to work. Perhaps all that traffic is caused by people posting how much traffic there is.

Image VIA