"I have better friends in all you guys that I've not met in person than in people I have been 'friends' with for years. Kinda hard when you really need someone to care for once. Dang near cry out for help and just get ignored. Sometimes, I wish FB wasn't invented....at least then I would THINK I still had real friends."
This is one of the strangest Facebook status posts I've seen, and one of the saddest examples of how FB has affected society. I don't know this person, she's just one of the people on my friend list due to common interests.
This status so caught my attention, I had to comment on it. Not on FB, I don't join conversations that should have remained private between only closest friends. What happened here? Maybe her obsession with FB isolated her from the people in her real life. When she didn't get the responses she wanted to her pleas for sympathy, she turned to FB where you can count on people to give you warm and fuzzy. Those FB "friends" don't know you, but feel they must respond because you begged for a response (and will then whine more if you don't get any) and give you the sympathetic bullshit you wanted. They probably don't have a clue what your vague status post was about. They might PM you to find out but that's what you wanted, isn't it. Most won't PM because they're genuinely concerned, they're just nosy. They won't say anything negative for fear of being slammed for having a differing opinion and then being defriended. So why is their response valid? Just because it's what you wanted? Did the people in your real life know the whole story and you know they won't give the response you want?
I can't get over the fact that so many people think the word "friend" on Facebook really means friend. Come on, no one has 1,953 friends. At best you are acquaintances. Sure, some virtual friendships are real and might turn into a real life one, but most are not. A true friend will disagree with you sometimes, but we know how that goes on FB. Disagree...defriend. Why would anyone want to share intimate details of their life with the internet? Ok, some do want that, but normal people are usually more discriminating and private about what they share.
There was a movie that didn't get much respect - The Invention of Lying. I liked it. It was about a world where no one lied, ever. They literally didn't think of lying until one man accidently told a lie. It was hilarious how brutally honest people were. A response was required, or they just wanted to say something, and absolute truth came out. Can you imagine if Facebook was like that?
On a related subject...drunk texting or high texting or whatever it is that makes people give TMI. I sometimes get a chuckle out of that. I learn a lot more about "friends" than I would (or should) in real life, I'm sure.
Good morning.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
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