Friday, March 25, 2011

Facebook Fatigue

Holy. Crap.

Okay. Here is the post I wrote about what was bothering me. It's about Facebook. It's nothing. It's stupid. Read it and see:

Not too long ago I cut my FB friend list by about 25%. (Yes, I did the math. Yes, I am a dork.) I have always maintained a pretty small list as it is, but there were a few people I had not interacted with for over a year (at least) and several more who had never bothered to even say "hello". I didn't delete anyone as a result of any negative emotions or as a result of anything--I just pared the list down to the people with whom I interact. (Or relatives. I'll admit that I kept all the relatives, regardless of their activity level. How am I going to tell my grandmother I deleted her because she doesn't get on her account enough?!)

Anyway. There hasn't been a lot of drama on my account. I've talked before about how boring my friends are. (I love you guys, but you are--for which I am eternally grateful.) I've never had anyone attack me on a post, I've never had anyone send me a hateful e-mail, and I've never seen anyone post anything on their status about one of my posts either. (On my page; I have been or felt attacked on others' pages before, normally during a political discussion gone wrong.) It's a nice, safe place for me to be. I thought I had kept it that way because I am so discerning about who makes the friends list but this past week I learned a few nuts had slipped through the approval process. (That'll teach me to not pat myself on the back too much!)

In case you haven't picked up on it here at the ol' blog, I have a rather quirky sense of humor. In fact, this whole family is like that. We joke about things that sometimes raise some eyebrows, but it's just our way. So yes, last week I made a joke about paying someone in children if they would come clean my kitchen. It's probably not the most shocking thing I've ever said, honestly. It never occurred to me that it would upset someone. Does anyone actually think I would do it?! Who takes something like that seriously?! Well, I now know of at least one person who had an extremely negative reaction to this and I am honestly stunned.

People. I would not trade my kids away for a clean kitchen. Maybe a clean house and garage. Selling them for only a clean kitchen is just too cheap. They are great damn kids.

Ahem.

Once again I find myself in the midst of "Facebook Fatigue" and I have to wonder if it's worth keeping up with the stupid thing. There are days when I think I would like nothing more than to just delete the whole damn thing and call it good but for one thing: it is the primary communication tool that I have with many of my relatives and several of my oldest friends. FB is such a freakin' staple in people's lives now that I doubt I would hear from many of them (often) if I am not on there. I'm starting to regret having ever opened up the account to begin with.

***

There is the big secret post in all its glory. See? It's dumb, just like I said. A lot of hoopla over nothing. The person who got upset has already been deleted and blocked. (My first block! How exciting, right?!) It's not a big deal and, I promise, it has NOTHING to do with any of you reading this. (Unless you are that one person, but I'm pretty sure she isn't one who reads this thing. If I'm wrong, well, you still suck and I continue to roll my eyes in your general direction.) In the future, I will try to refrain from posting about ambiguous frustrations. I'm sorry that I upset those who e-mailed me; I'm publishing this just in case there were more who didn't contact me.

***

Question time! Might as well since I went and published the damn thing anyway. Now, I know that people use their personal FB accounts in all sorts of ways. I'm honestly curious...who makes the cut on your friends list? Do you "friend" everyone clear down to your sister's hairdresser's oldest daughter or do you just add your nearest and dearest? Do you hide your feed from people or is everything an open book? Do you hide people or delete them? Or both? And finally, do you ever think about deleting your account? I can't be the only one. Right?

9 comments:

  1. I am tired of Facebook-- but not because of any drama per say. I cannot believe anyone was offended by your comment? Crazy. Really. There are people I could delete but they are not harming anything at this point- I don't really post anything (much more then pictures updates of course) and it is a means of communication with a lot of people that I would not have otherwise!

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  2. Sheesh...I knew you were joking. I have the same sense of humor. Some people just don't appreciate it and they stupidly take it seriously (most of those people either 1.) have no sense of humor AT ALL or 2.) don't have children and/or have no idea what a mom goes through on a daily basis. Personally, I don't know one woman who wouldn't make that joke about trading children for a clean kitchen (I feel ya!). LOL!

    Who makes the cut on your friends list?
    Only people that I know in real life, but not every single person that is an acquaintance. I do NOT add people if they've ever given me trouble because...I cut out "toxic" people before I let them start drama.

    Do you hide your feed from people or is everything an open book?
    There are only four people that I "hide stuff" from on there because I am trying to lose weight and if I post something about exercise or weight loss (which I RARELY do), they ALWAYS have something to say about it...like...they're better than me because they lost more or did more at the gym. So...it peeved me to the point where I hid my feed from them.

    Do you hide people or delete them?
    I hide certain people who do nothing but piss me off with their status updates (including the offenders up there in that other question). I don't want to hear about how someone did 8 hours at the gym and/or see teachers who are WAY too close to their students on their FB accounts...it's creepy.

    Or both? And finally, do you ever think about deleting your account?
    I've never thought about deleting my account. I have too many photos on there and I like seeing what all my friends/family who live so far away are up to. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I post some stupid, off-the-wall thing about once a day. Normally I post quite a few pictures but I realized the other day that I have only posted a couple from my phone since December. I blame the photo-friendly computer. It hasn't been so friendly lately.

    I couldn't believe it either. The worst thing about it was that she posted her comment as her status update a few minutes after mine. I've wondered if she forgot to block me from seeing it...and maybe she's done it before? We didn't have any mutual friends so I don't know. People are ridiculous sometimes.

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  4. Mine is VERY private. And I only accept friends of people whom I know. I don't deal with all that drama. Sorry you had to...

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  5. I have to admit that I haven't been reading your Blog as much as I used to but when Danny said he loves Calm Crazy I had to come see. :) I love facebook and I have used it in several different ways. I have found both long lost friends and relatives. I have used it to vent, brag, and complain. There have been a couple of times that I have even asked for help or advice. I personally know everyone on my friends list but not all of them have access to everything I post. I have three people that I have kept on my list, for various reasons, but have blocked them from seeing my posts. One person is my boss, in case I complain about work I don't want her to see it. She was on the list before she became my boss. The second is a cousin that tried to start a HUGE argument with me ob facebook because I made some decisions that she didn't agree with. And the last person that is blocked is my ex-father in law cause him seeing all my comments is just wierd but I keep him on the list so he can see pics of the kids.

    Don't know if I have ever made the comment of facebook but I have often told people that I have a few kids I can spare if they want extras. That usually comes out when they are acting up in public but in reality I would trade any of them. but then again a clean house would be nice. LOL

    Don't let what other people say get to you...especially if they don't know you.

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  6. I have a friend who deleted her mother-in-law. Needless to say, it did not improve their already tenuous relationship!

    And I like your sense of humor! I often say I'm going to put out a sign that says, "free to any home" if my kids don't shape up. I'm totally kidding, of course! It's part of the joy of parenting - if we can't laugh together, we all might go crazy!

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  7. I'm sure there are plenty of people that feel like you do but innate to say I'm not one of them. I couldn't live with fb! It's the only way I get to see my family half the time. I've even reunited with great friends from the past who I otherwise wouldn't know anymore. Then again I'm lucky to have. People on my friends list that not only have a sense of humour but also common sense. I mean someone actually thought you were serious?! ffs!

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  8. Oh gosh I just reread this comment and the grammar is horrible! I just got a new iPod and I obviously still need to get used to it!

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  9. LMAO--it was obviously typos and not grammar so much. No worries. I knew
    what you were trying to say. ;)

    ReplyDelete

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