Home, Sweet Home – Making Our House Into a Home

I am officially taking a break from Facebook.  Each day I get on FB, I find myself more and more frustrated.  I can’t read the status updates I’m interested in without sifting through pages of application updates.  I find it difficult to locate the people I’m actually interested in.  And I find the social media etiquette is very strange and someone different from social etiquette in general.

What has been bugging me most lately is the lack of originality.  Everyone post things that say “Repost This.”  Or people use their FB status as a voice for political change.  For example, there’s on status posting going around in which people are shaming America for supporting Haiti when we have so many homeless and poor here.  Excuse me?  Haiti is in much worse condition in its best days than we ever were in our worst days.  And have you ever heard of welfare?  Medicaid? Medicare? Hud?  Unemployment benefits?  And if you’re so concerned with poor and homeless here, then do something about it.  Stop complaining on Facebook to other people who obviously aren’t poor or homeless or else they wouldn’t have a computer or the internet.

Plus I miss the days when my friends would post quirky, witty status updates.  They were so fun to read.  Man, I miss that!

And the big kicker for me…Social media is a PUBLIC forum.  When you post something on FB, it is public.  Regardless of your privacy settings, there’s always a way for someone else to see what you’ve posted.  And if you post a picture and you don’t want someone to comment on it, then don’t post the picture.  Posting something to FB is basically the same as asking for feedback.  And don’t get angry with me if I post a harmless comment that rubs you the wrong way.  If you didn’t want to hear my comments the A) don’t be friends with me B) don’t post anything on FB and C) don’t read it since it wasn’t even your post that I commented on in the first place.  And most of all, don’t send me rude e-mails telling me how rude I am or that I’m stealing the spotlight from a situation.  Hello?!?!  You just posted a private event on a public social forum.

And I’ll be honest, I’m really worried  about the impact of texting and social media on the social skills of our kids.  It concerns me very much that my 16 year old nephew doesn’t have a clue how to have a real conversation with a girl.  How will kids work out problems?  How will they learn how to act in different social situations?  It’s a real concern of mine.

So for a while, I’m on a Facebook Fast.  I’m not posting any status updates or pictures on Facebook.  People who want to know what I’m doing can call me.  I’ll continue to update my blog, my photo gallery, and maybe update Twitter on occasion.  But honestly, I really feel like checking my Facebook page and others’ status updates has become an obsession of mine that is actually starting to unintentionally interfere with the relationships in my life.

Whew…that’s a lot and I actually feel better.