The Social Notwork!

So I took a bold step this week and deactivated my Facebook account, WHAT?? Yes, my friends I am no longer the social network junkie. For some people this may be like falling off the face of earth or the virtual death. It was a tough decision but in light of many things, had to be made. Now you must be thinking why would I do something like this? One, I was spending way too much time on it, really? Yes, having FB app on your iPhone is like being attached to a ball and chain. Every few minutes when you feel like taking a break, you click a button and there in front of you are all the status updates from the last five minutes. Even though most of them are random and you would otherwise have no interest in them, you read through them anyway and maybe hit the LIKE button on a couple.

When it comes to statuses, there are several varieties of them. Some just post where they are and what they are doing at the present. Some post philosophical and inspirational quotes -- Ok now I don't mind reading one or two of them but when someone posts three or more in one day, it clearly annoys me. What's worse is that they are almost always posted by people who have never seen a dark day in their lives, who have virtually everything in the world and are very happy and they are the ones telling me to be patient, have faith and look on the bright side, GIVE ME A BREAK!!

There are some statuses I really like for example, comic strips or joke of the day. They do put a smile on my face and I will take them rather then an inspirational quote anyday.

Another thing that drives me up the wall is when people post pictures of their children. Now I like children especially babies but must you put a new pic everyday? Do we really need to know when your kid started eating solid foods or pooped for that matter? I realize that every parent is proud of their kids and want to capture every special moment but must you subject the rest of us to it? I feel sorry for relatives of these people who feel obligated to make a comment every time a new picture is posted becuse if they don't, the parent might think you don't think their kid is cute.

My decision is only temporary and I may come back on it in the future but for some reason knowing too much about people disturbs me and makes me wonder how much I have already revealed to strangers and what are the consequences?

To summarize, I feel that Facebook has changed the game of how we interact with people and on some level it is great and as humans we have the tendency to be curious about other people but must we reveal every aspect of our lives in front of our 300+ Facebook friends? Are all these people really our true friends? Will most of them come for our help when we call them in the middle of the night, loan us money when we are in trouble or give us a shoulder when we need to cry? Maybe there are people who can answer YES to all these questions but I cannot say the same and until I am ready to make peace with this I will be living my life in the real world and will not be posting any pictures of it!!

R