OMG, I have been on vacation! My cell phone was down because of a lost charge! My Facebook has so many notifications, so much activity and I have tons of emails. I flipped to Twitter and the activity there is unreal. How am I going to catch up and which one should I tackle first? Hell, I will never have time to unpack or pick up the mail! I need to go back on vacation on that cruise ship to get away from social media!!!! Help me, I am drowning on land!
Emails coming in reminding you of birthdays for people you knew ten years ago. Then you struggle trying to remember who they are realizing why bother? If you sent them a note,
Direct messages on Facebook and Twitter come from total strangers of the opposite sex saying
Hello. What the heck is that supposed to mean?
Let’s start a conversation from someone who is probably pretending to be
a person behind a profile picture. Oh, are you so desperate for friends you
will reach out to anyone and everyone.
If so, go stand in the middle of the street in NYC! That is probably
safer.
Tweets that ask you to follow me and I will follow you.
Why? If you are saying anything of
substance, I already would be! Now that you are saying that, you are showing
the world you have nothing worthwhile to say except you are desperate for
people to hear you say anything, even something as stupid as listen to what I
say even when I am saying nothing of value!
What is the deal with Facebook forwards that say stuff like
forward this to 20 people to bring good luck? Hell, you want to send me good
luck, give me a lotto ticket! I have a much better chance of getting some good
luck that way then you sending me twinkling stars or a picture of a doting
angel and then harassing 20 friends with a chain message. Actually that is a
sure fire way to piss off 19 friends!
Let’s forget talking live and communicate everything on
texts on our phone. Then let’s hope the inflection of what we are trying to say
comes across even though half or more of what we communicate comes across in our
tone and it is completely lost in the written word. Nobody writes in text like
a literary author so gone are the ‘missing you horribly’ or ‘sincerely hope you
are having a great day’. Texts are written like computer programmers: How RU?
Feel OK? Nice talking 2U (insert 😃 face) Body language doesn’t show but it is substituted by one of the
fifty emoji’s.🙏🌈⭐🚩🎸 End of conversation. Wow,
that was rewarding, NOT
What is with the incredible long streams among many members
on Facebook Group Direct Messaging that you have to run up and back down to
figure out who the hell said what? Half the time I am responding to my own damn
words! Wow, does that look foolish but
the stream gets so confusing. One time a close friend said, hey, I am starting
a new group. It was the same group! She just said, unbelievable to me, I can’t
follow this anymore or I will need to go into counseling. It is like hearing
white noise to follow the stream any longer!
How many selfies can some folks take? Isn’t it easier to
just look in a mirror? They are in your home, there is a rear view mirror in
your car and carry one in your purse if you can’t stop staring at yourself. I
don’t need to keep seeing you in my social media stream. I have news for you,
day to day, you don’t change! You aren’t a baby that is going thru massive
changes day to day in the development process. You don’t get bigger except
perhaps in the waist line and if you keep posting them, perhaps in the head as
in ego. If you do get bigger in the
waistline, or perhaps in the butt, do you really want the rest of us to see it?
Oh and selfies count as your feet. Please, post the pictures of
the beach! And men tell me, as far as
your thongs (flip flops) if you are going to post those, post a real thong,
They are a whole lot more exciting than your bare feet. Women, it is a misnomer
that most men have a foot fetish! You may care about how your feet look but nobody cares to look at your feet on
social media posts. Let us feel like we are watching the Travel Channel and
living vicariously through you, and that doesn’t happen by looking at your
toes.
What is with all the unwanted emails coming in my inboxes
these days?! You unsubscribe from one
site and in its place 5 others suddenly appear within days in the same
category. Your name is being sold constantly on mailing lists and you have
virtually no control over it. And the emails never make it to your SPAM folder
anymore. If you are new to social media, you think you are the hottest
commodity in social media overnight!
Be wary of filling out any questionnaire for politicians,
even your favorite one! The minute you do, you become the top request for
donations for that candidate and every email they send out on any and all
policy issues they stand for! Heck, even if you post something negative on a politician’s
site, which I have on several, I am now getting their emails even after
unsubscribing. For some reason, they think, enough messages, they can change my
mind. I may pay them to stop!
Balance out your posts. I love looking at a timeline on
anyone’s page where I learn about the person and see inspirational posts. Why
do some folks do nothing but posts links. I am not going to constantly read
links. If I wanted to read the news constantly or other articles, I would go to
google, or news site pages. Twitter is notorious for this. Someone’s page will
be nothing but posted link, after link, after link. In the bio someone will say
they are an expert. An expert at what, posting links to other experts in the
field they say they are a Master at?
Yeah right.
I do believe in social media and I think it serves an invaluable
service. The drawbacks are numerous and in many ways it has added a new
dimension of stress to our lives. It has also eliminated needed dialogue to
interpersonal relationships. That missing element is hurting families and
friendships, no doubt about it. Be the change, as families lose that connect,
children will suffer. Be sure you aren’t part of the problem but part of the
solution. Remember use hashtag #SocialInteractionStillMatters!
