Thursday, October 29, 2009

Facebook Blues

Won't go into detail. Suffice to say I had a junior high-esque meltdown at the hands of a "friend's" unintentionally hurtful post and now can hardly bear to look at the pale Wedgwood blue blocks and lettering.

Coincidentally, this morning I was dismayed to learn from NPR that those stupid quizzes people send around are designed to strip information from your FB page. Mostly I ignored them and am generally not that squeamish about sharing information online. That said, I'm not a fan of the under-cover-of-quiz m.o. of the Facebook information gathering.

See ya Facebook. If it weren't for the pictures, I'd delete my account altogether in a minute. May yet.

4 comments:

Andrea said...

Aww...you haven't even friended me yet!

mommyk8 said...

Oh, Facebook. So weird on so many levels. You now literally have the ability to stay in touch with basically everyone you have ever met. Is this a good thing, a bad thing, who knows? Interesting relationship questions arise, i.e. what's the deal with communicating with, friending/unfriending exes? And, much much more.

Per your entry, I have Jr. High like meltdowns on a weekly basis from FB, especially right now with the No on One campaign in full swing. One good thing about FB is that I am finally, finally learning to put a lid on my "Irish". I have learned how to keep my cool, if only a little bit more than I used to, and not completely rip people I think are idiots and spewing vitriolic hatefulness a new one (most of the time). That said, I have always viewed FB as a very public forum. I try very hard not to say anything on FB that I would not write my name on and post on the bulletin board outside of yellowfront.

As for the quizzes and Apps, I have always been suspicious of them. Yes, I have taken a few. Mostly because I NEED to know what kind of foodie I am, or what my spirit animal is, but I always go right into my profile and delete them immediately.

Facebook is now almost as necessary as having an e-mail address. I won't be breaking up with it anytime soon, but I can certainly understand why someone would want to. It's the ultimate dysfunctional relationship, with everyone you know ;)

Lee Roberts said...

@Andrea, it's undoubtedly a good thing. I would much rather be your blogger friend and your friend IRL. At least we both mostly understand those platforms. You're not really on it are you?

Facebook is a constantly shifting terrain that recent blood pressure readings tell me I and others barely grasp.

Suddenly I like our blogs and the phone just fine, thanks just the same.

L

Lee Roberts said...

@mommyk "...dysfunctional relationship, with everyone you know," stealing that, just so you know.

I've been honing my skills in calm argumentation and efficient writing on political blogs since 2004, not to mention years as a reporter.

Don't need to watch others do the same in plain sight of their friends, families and goddess knows who else. The bad writing, alarming spelling and exclamation points alone give me the vapors.