I know this is dangerous ground to tread on, but I know a lot of you will relate. I am SICK and TIRED of social networking! I know, it's ironic that I use twitter, Facebook, etc. to get the word out about this blog, but honestly, most days the whole deal is hard for me to stomach.
You know what I'm talking about... you're perusing your News Feed on Facebook and somebody's cryptic status update catches your eye. You click on "read all comments" and try to figure out what's going on and all it is is a bunch of nonsense, each post more cryptic than the last. Then, you go to that person's page and start mining for details--info tab (has anything changed? relationship status? job? No) ... photos ... wall ... but alas, no details can be found. And then you ask yourself ... what am I doing? I don't even LIKE this person. Why do I care? And before you know it, you've wasted an hour when you could have been doing something--anything--more meaningful than this rubbish.
And then there's twitter ... it gets worse. Anyone can "follow" you and anyone can open an account with no information attached to it, so in other words, no recourse. (I realize you can limit who can follow you and ban people.) You can say and insinuate anything you want without ever having to take responsibility for it! What could possibly be more perfect for that drunk, solipsistic cyberstalker with time on her hands?
Now, back to Facebook--I'm not done with it yet. What's the deal with all those people collecting "friends" (like who really has 456 real friends?) and the people with more than 200 photos posted of themselves--all of themselves in various poses--with sunglasses! Without! With cocktails! At a bar with hair messed up! Rolling in the grass with flesh-and-blood friends! In a hot tub! Ugh. Do all us "friends" really need to know that much about your alls lives? I just don't get this living-life-through-Facebook phenomenon that's captivating the world. I long for the not-so-distant past (like the 90s!) where a lot of us didn't even have cell phones, let alone FB, Twitter and everything else. I also long for the days of old when I didn't even feel compelled to post something on these sites when something changed in my life ... "I saw a bird out the window!" "My dog took a crap!" (Yep, I'm guilty too.)
To my readers: I apologize for the curmudgeonly rant. I'm not that judgmental. I just wanted to get it off my chest and see if anyone else could relate. Ooh... the UPS truck just drove up! :)
About Me
- Karen Keb
- Osage County, KS, United States
- I'm a farm girl who used to edit a bunch of rural-lifestyle magazines, but then I went and fell in love with another rural-lifestyle magazine editor/farmer in Kansas. So now, I'm living the life, rather than just writing about it! My country adventures include farming and gardening, writing, crafting and cooking.
I'm torn. I try to limit my 'friends' to people I actually know but still get inundated sometimes. At the same time I'm enough of a flaming narcisist to love the entire online world hanging on my every move (or so I believe ;-)). Actually I'm studying Social Networking for a project I'm working on. It's really interesting. I'll make you a deal, I won't 'drop' you if you don't 'drop' me!
ReplyDeletePeace,
Dave
Oh God ... Don't drop me! :)
ReplyDeleteKaren,
ReplyDeleteI think you've said what a lot of us are thinking but it hasn't crystallized yet.
I'm still trying to make my way through the social networking thicket and figure it out as I go. That's made even harder by how quickly the nature of it changes.
Thanks for the post and food for thought.
Monette Satterfield
I agree Karen, too damn much nonsense!
ReplyDeleteI never thought I would get on facebook, but I have found old friends I thought I would never see agian but think about all the time. I ignore friend requests if I don't know them personally. (except for you of course!)Since I live in a small town now, 90 miles away from friends and family it's a great way for me to keep in touch without being on the phone for hours a day. I have hidden people (easier than unfriending them) if they are annoying. BUT, I do get what you mean! The people that post every hour about something you have no idea what they are talking about. Just hide them :)
ReplyDeleteA whole lotta nothing. Alas, I get poeple to read my blog and hubpages through FB. I think I'm important enough to have something worth while to read, you know. Blogs are a great way to share knowledge, we should have just stuck with blogging and skipped the social thing.
ReplyDeleteScott
Funny. I've never been to Facebook and I only have a vague idea of what Twitter is. I tend to be compulsive, so I have stayed away from these obvious time sinks. I found my high school networking site at ning.com. No one there knows me. Da ja vue.
ReplyDeleteI like FB very much, however it can be a time waster. I hate getting invites to join this or that on FB. I don't want the person that invited me to have their feelings hurt, but I also don't want to feel like I have to toss a snowball back at some one or join Mafia Wars just to stay friends. I started playing Farmville but I'm getting a little bored with it. Now I feel bad quitting it just because I have neighbors in the game that are long lost friends and relatives that look forward to playing. I f you just took care of your own farm it would be ok, but you are expected to send free gifts or animals, building supplies and the precious Wither Proof Ring. Yep once you have one of these your crops will never wither....geeze... where will it end? My only hope is that my neighbors will get tired of playing it soon and we can all quit together. I have reconnected with old classmates, missing relatives and other friends which is the awesome part of FB. Life was a lot simpler before the internet, cellphones and Dish TV, which brings up a decision I made recently. My phone, TV and internet was costing me $250 a month. I kept my broadband internet which is $60 a month, I switched to a Magic Jack for home phone which is under $2.00 a month. I put a $30 antenna in my upstair and now get free HD TV...what a concept. Major networks come in 1080P, so I have saved $188.00 a month...YAHOO!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, Karen, you are sooooo right. I've canceled by Facebook accounts (two of them--I was confused) and haven't glanced at Twitter.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I still don't own a cell phone (except for the Tracphone I take outside with me in the dead of winter in case I get hurt and have to call 911). There is no one on earth I want to talk to badly enough that it can't wait until I get home.