Tuesday, March 15, 2016

What is Wrong With Social Media Today - NOTHING

I had a friend write a post today saying, "Seriously it's getting OLD People posting pictures of them selves. .....ALL THE TIME. It's one thing if they went through Enterprise to change but seriously enough" Another of our mutual friends commented, "Agreed. The Selfie revolution has gone way past annoying."
 
Now, I am not a big online "Social Media" type of person. I don't have an "Insta" and have never used "Pintrest" and I can say that I have never seen a "tweet" so perhaps I am not the person to say anything. 

However, when I do find time to get onto facebook, there are those "people" who do post LOTS of selfies. Often times, they are younger people who have no one else to worry about besides themselves and they are just taking pictures of themselves doing what they do. Many times, they may not have lots of friends so they take pictures of themselves doing whatever they are doing, posting to try and "connect" with those who may not be connected either.   
 
I almost found myself commenting on the post I mentioned above but didn't want to offend my friend. I really wanted to say something about what she may post everyday that may be annoying to others on her "friends" list.

I have family and friends who NEVER post pictures of themselves but I can tell you I have gotten a bit overwhelmed by the fact that "(insert name) puked all night and then messed himself in the bed and I had to change the sheets and get him cleaned up and then he started all over again." Sometimes, those without small children really DON'T want to read that as it either brings back horrors of their own sleepless nights or some people are grossed out by kids or just body fluids.
 
I have gotten overwhelmed by the "Partier" in my friends list who posts about "scoring" or posting pictures of them wasted or their friends wasted many times a week or the after party morning comments of needing coffee and OJ for the hangover and spilling it all over the car etc. 

I have a few gay friends who have posted photos on a few occasions that I wouldn't want my kids to see from parties or events they attended due to wardrobe choices involving whips, leather and studs. They think it is funny and who am I to judge. But like the body fluids comment above, I don't think I need to know THAT much information.   

I know we all have someone on our feed that posts photos of their animals ALL THE TIME. Just in the past few hours, I had two linked videos about bears playing with a pink balloon and a dog playing with a big ball. I also had a neighbor post three pictures of her cat with kids and a family member post this cat joke meme. However, these people may not have a child, spouse or loved one to connect with so they post about the one thing they do have to interact with that they love, which is their animal.

Then there is the person who has strong opinions about politics and certain volatile issues. Abortion, gay marriage, candidates for office. They may not often post about their family because perhaps their spouse doesn't like their pictures posted or maybe they are having family issues or are divorced and alone and rather than feeling sad, they dedicate their time to a "Cause" of their choice.    

I don't get offended, I just move past it and on to the next post as I am grateful there are people out there that feel strongly about issues enough to fight for what they believe. Most of the time, I am lucky to vote as I am so busy fighting my own life battles and doing my best to be a parent that going to a caucus or spearheading a campaign in my area for someone I believe in isn't in my realm right now.  

Then there are the friends that are always selling things. I didn't realize that all my friends get notified each time I post something for sale on a "yardsale" site on facebook. How annoying is that? I have several "friends" that use it to sell cupcakes, treats of all kinds, and all sort of business pushes since we live in a small town. I myself sold 20 suckers to a cousin I hadn't seen in some time online for Princess Five's choir tour. This pic was posted today with four or five more from one friend starting a "treat" business.  
 
I posted this for a day when Princess Two said I should have added this video link so I am editing on the day of post adding this funny song about the 11 most annoying people on your feed. 

My LEAST favorite thing on social media are the people who try and make money stealing videos off facebook and linking them on facebook so you get caught up by the title and click on the link and you are taken to a page with a million advertisements on it only to scroll through to find or NOT find the said video. Today I clicked on one for a local news stations and had to read the entire article to get to the video.

This is my second LEAST favorite, when people set up pages to steal information about you by "take this quiz" headers where you answer all the questions so they can sell all that information to companies to send you advertisements, or you take the "How well do you know ?" quiz and then you give them all your information to set up a quiz for your friends to take and then they have all your personal information, important dates, colors, pets names and anything else needed to steal your identity or guess passwords to get into your accounts. Just today, "How well do you know Carol?" came up on my feed along with this age determining quiz about the color you see in the picture above.   

Then there are the "holiday" or "World Event" posts surrounding the Olympics, Superbowl, Birthday comments and most of us have enough friends that there is some birthday daily if not two or three. I have a daughter who likes to post something for each holiday and that ends up being most days as there is a "national" day for almost everything so today, she posted this cute comic. 

So, who are we to judge what another person posts. I find that my lack of posting hasn't seemed to bother anyone! But, no one complained when I did sell lots of items to help pay for Princess Fives tour. Isn't that what "Friends" are? If someone on your feed annoys you with their posts, are they really your "friend" at all? There have been a few people that I un-followed due to negative posts on a regular basis but for the most part, I am happy to just see what is going on in the world of those I call "friend." 
 
After all, aren't we all blessed to have friends, computers, homes, cars, jobs, food, phones and all the other amenities of life in this great country and world when there are so many that don't have anything! So, bring on the selfie, bring on the animal videos and pictures, share your birthday and holidays with us, take your quizzes and tests, find out how well I know you, sell me some treats, ask me for "help" and stay strong supporting your cause! Perhaps you could leave out just a bit on the body fluids and scandal photos but LIVE LIFE HAPPY because you have 1,111 friends on Facebook!:-)

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