Connections and Confessions

You guys are pretty much a Facebook crowd, I see. (I forgot to give MySpace its individual question on the poll, so for those of you MySpace users, sorry! I didn't mean to leave you out, even though I am in the FB user category myself.)

The whole social networking thing is kind of strange. I first joined Facebook last year, after a friend had urged me to repeatedly so she could keep in contact with me. I was very reluctant-- it had taken some prodding for me to join the blogging world, and the last thing I wanted to do was another online thing to have to keep up. But I created my account, didn't post a picture (wasn't going to display my swollen pregnant face), and requested about 3 people as friends. Then I never bothered to check it. In fact, I openly mocked the whole idea. The question "What are you doing right now?" seemed so silly. Uh, I'm on Facebook. Duh. So it used to be funny to see posts from my friend about how she was making bread, or reading her kids stories, or going to the zoo. "Yeah, right," I would think. "You're on Facebook while you're reading your kids stories."

Now, of course, they've changed the question. "What's on your mind?" makes more sense, but still I thought the idea of constantly chiming in your two cents would be sillier than silly. But then, I discovered that Facebook had quizzes you could take. Stupid, most of them, and nearly always in desperate need of some editing by someone, anyone with a basic knowledge of grammar. But fun, anyway! At least some of them.

This is where I caught on to Facebook. I got seized by some insane desire to create my own quiz. I worked on it constantly for a couple of days, to the annoyance of my husband. (If you're curious, it's the "Which Jane Austen Heroine Are You?" quiz I have posted on my profile.) And after taking about ten ridiculously stupid quizzes about which Twilight guy is your soulmate, I made a much better one of those too. (That one never got posted, however, because I couldn't find uncopyrighted photos to go with it. So if anyone out there is an artist who would like to draw Twilight pictures for my quiz, let me know!)

Then on bed rest I discovered the games, posted a picture, and added my maiden name to my profile, and suddenly I was getting friended by a gazillion people I hadn't seen in years. It was fun to find out what all these people were up to, and some people I never thought I'd see again have become online buddies of mine. Crazy.

BUT I HAVE A PET PEEVE ABOUT FACEBOOK!

If you are having something traumatic and horrible happening in your life, and you really don't want to talk about it with anybody, please, please don't post it as your status!!!! Several times people I am only acquainted with have posted about something awful happening, and I've had to agonize about how to respond, or if I should respond at all. Especially when they post something like "Today was the absolute worst day of my life and I am heartbroken." I feel like I'd be callous not to express sympathy, but I barely know this person, and it's not really my business. If you want to let your close friends know that your father just got sentenced to five years in prison, just send them a private message. Otherwise, with a cryptic post, everybody is going to write asking you what happened, and either you are going to have to tell everyone, or make up a convincing lie, or you are going to have to repeat over and over that you really don't want to talk about it.

And really, people!!!! Don't call your spouse a lying cretin on his wall, or announce that you're in love with your married neighbor, or write that you think Obama is so hot you wish you could grind it up with him. I don't want to know. Trust me, there are limits to what your old high school friends or mission companions or neighbors want to know about you. (Unless your married neighbor is thrilled to find out you return his affection.)

And so there's my Facebook rant. I'm not anti-Facebook; I love it! (In fact, I spend way too much time checking it.) But I only wish people would use a little common sense with it too.