Dear Facebook,
Jodysez is irritated. [Posted two seconds ago.] Jodysez has thrown a blog post at lots of people. [posted 1 second ago]. Jodysez is off on a rant. [Posted moments ago].
Ok, first I’ll start by admitting that I, like 46 million other people of my generation, am a part of Facebook. That should really not come as a surprise to anyone, since quite a few readers end up here after clicking through my page. But, with that being said, lately I’ve noticed a few trends that have me wondering if maybe it’s time to change my status to a permanent “Away.”* So, in no particular order, here are a few things that might make our virtual friendship a little stronger:
1) Obscurity. I do like that Facebook allows me to reconnect with people from high school, college, etc. and find out what they are up to. It’s nice to see people that I haven’t seen in a few years all grown up, with lives of their own. But, many of my recent requests are people that I literally have no recollection of, or only met for about five minutes fifteen years ago. Take this recent exchange:
New friend: Hi, how are you? It’s been a long time!
Me: Don’t take this the wrong way, but I have absolutely no inkling of who you are.
New friend: LOL, you were always so funny! I sat three rows behind you in 9th grade geometry and one day I borrowed a pencil from you. So, what have you been up to since then?
Me: Right, yeah, nothing much new. Never did get that pencil back, though.
2) Poke, Superpoke, etc. This little feature also creeps me out. I’m going to be honest, folks, if I only knew you as a friend of a friend who I met one time, and haven’t seen you since then, I’m going to be weirded out when you “Celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by taking a bubble bath with me…” I mean, I wouldn’t show up at your house and ask you to jump in the tub, so it’s no more acceptable to do it over the computer. Also, the next person who “Throws a Thanksgiving turkey,” a “Kwanzaa chicken,” a “New Year’s duck” or similar holiday fowl is going to draw my wrath.
3) Fan of/Joining causes. In real life, I’m a big fan of a lot of things. Similarly, I believe in a number of causes. That being said, I don’t get pissed at anyone who feels differently about any of those things. On Facebook, however, people seem to get really mad if you decline their invitations to share their interests. But, let’s face it, just because I won’t become a member of “1,000,000,000,000 against wearing white after Labor Day,” a “Fan of Naked Barbeque Cooking” (which no one should be), or “The Spencer/Heidi Superawesome Fan Club” when you ask me doesn’t mean that I don’t like you as a person. Also, some of these things might reveal a little more about you than you want the general Internet public to know.
So, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, I can get back to updating my status and looking at everyone’s newest posted pictures. See you in the tub!
*I’m not really considering doing this, but it does lend some credibility to my rant.
