Or, more specifically, my intense disdain for Facebook.
I joined Facebook in July of 2009 and quickly reconnected with a slew of people from my past with the majority of my friends list consisting of people I went to high school with. That was exciting at first until...well, until it wasn't. I have been working from home for a long time plus I am very much and introvert; Facebook seemed like the perfect way to still interact with people without actually having to go through the trouble of doing that in person! So I was all "yay, people!" for awhile.
Until I was reading multiple posts a day about a friend's cats. Their antics, medications, peculiarities, dietary preferences, etc.
Or endless platitude-type quotes.
Or the passive aggressive status updates.
You know the drill and I am certainly not the first person to write about Facebook drivel.
Obviously the answer is to just quit Facebook and get on with a happy Facebook-less life but it's not that easy nowadays. Everything is connected with and to Facebook. I get all of my news through it.
And coupons and deals.
So for me Facebook is ideal with keeping up with the world but not with keeping up with people.
Because people post some mind-numbingly boring stuff or every aspect of their life to Facebook.
Just this past weekend a Facebook friend was on a weekend getaway with her husband to celebrate their anniversary. I knew where they ate every meal, what stores they shopped in, what dinner cruise they took, what hotel they were staying in, etc. Because instead of spending genuine quality time with her beloved, she was taking pictures of everything with her phone and posting it all to Facebook.
Another Facebook friend did a similar thing while she was out to dinner with her husband. She had a lovely meal of some kind of fish in a blue cheese sauce over truffle mashed potatoes. I know this because as she was dining in a fancy restaurant on a Saturday night date that she probably spent a good deal of time getting ready for - hair, makeup, outfit - she whipped out her phone to take a picture of her plate before she ate one bite so that she could post it to Facebook.
I am definitely missing something here. I am out of step with the world.
Because there is no way that I would interrupt my precious time with someone I cared about to post my comings and goings to Facebook. (Great way to let criminal-types know you are away from home, by the way)
Just think of it: there is your love, relaxed and happy, delighted to be with you. You both are surrounded by lovely things to see, smell, taste...but one (or both?!) of you are missing out on these very important memory-making minutes because you are fumbling around with your phone.
Husband: "Honey, I just want to say how much I love being with..."
Wife: "Wait just a minute. I have to get this shot. OMG, my Facebook friends are going to LOVE this!"
Their collective live-action posts had the opposite effect, at least on me.
I was not interested in their food or activities; instead I was just preoccupied with the horror I was experiencing when I thought about what they were actually doing...which is that they were (are) MISSING OUT ON THEIR LIFE AS IT WAS HAPPENING.
And that's my gigantic problem with Facebook.
We post things to Facebook for attention, because we want 'likes'.
But at what cost?
I am a semi-successful artist under my real name and I have a Facebook page for my artwork.
Whenever I create a new piece of artwork I post an image of it to that Facebook page. Then, I admit, I wait for 'likes'.
I tend to get a fair amount which initially makes me happy but then I crash and burn shortly afterward.
"That's it?", I think. "I put my heart and soul into that and all I get is the click of the mouse button for a like?"
That makes me sound ungrateful, which I really am not. But I need more.
More substance.
More conversation.
More depth.
When I think about the ridiculousness of an entire population of grownups spending their days clicking the 'like' button...it's like an episode of the Twilight Zone.
So here I am back at this blog/site where I can keep it much more real and look forward to genuine interaction. I had a blog for years and years but the I got really involved with my art work and foolishly focused more of my attention on Facebook and as a result I let fall to the wayside. Hopefully I won't let that happen again.
Because I wouldn't like that.
