Facebook’s New Reality

Well, folks, so much for “frequent ramblings” here.  Whether fortunately or unfortunately I’ve been incredibly busy the last few weeks and that has certainly taken a toll on my writing.  For shame!

I do, however, have a bone to pick with some of you.  You’ll know who you are.

As all of you should know (if you’ve been following me on Facebook for any amount of time), I’m an avid Facebooker (Yeah, I said it.  Take THAT Miriam-Webster).  About a month ago, I woke up, bleary-eyed from another night of interrupted sleep and found my entire news feed awash in ridiculous cartoons.

For some reason, almost all 250 of you have taken to cartoonifying the minutiae of your lives.  I realize you’re not alone.  I get that this Bitstrips bullshit is just another form of expressing yourselves, and in that regard, I’d never suggest you stop exploring such things.  But Bitstrips?  Really?

Perhaps it’s because my father spent most of his life drawing caricatures of those around him.  Perhaps it’s because amongst one of the many talents The Boy I love happens to have, he’s an amazing cartoonist.  Perhaps it’s because I appreciate the art form (and by that I mean the actual one).  Or perhaps it’s because I love words.  Yes, words.

When I see a status, even a wordy one, I connect with it.  I may not always comment.  I may not always ‘like’ it.  I may not always give it a giant thumbs up, but at the end of the day, communicating with my friends is one of the highlights of my day.  When that is removed and replaced with poorly generated “art” and a mere sentence about some seriously minor point about your life, it destroys the beauty of it.

The thing I’ve noticed is that the vast majority of the ones I’ve seen aren’t even positive.  Most of them are people pulling their hair out, freaking out about not having coffee, complaining about their kids or other responsibilities in their lives, or simply just letting us know that “Hey!  I cooked salmon for dinner tonight!”

I am probably one of the most pessimistic people you’ll meet and you will certainly get what you see with me.  I’m not one of those people with public and private personae that are polar opposites.  If I smile at you, it’s because there’s some sort of general affection.  If I scowl at you, it’s because I’m unhappy and I’m very vocal about why that would be the case.  Case in point:  today’s rant.

I totally accept that not everyone is like me.  That’s what makes the Universe such an interesting place. But what makes it UNinteresting is the daily onslaught of shitty cartoons about people complaining about their lives.  Is there NOTHING positive happening for you?  If not, maybe it’s time to re-evaluate.

And about positivity:  there’s been this big push for people to post a gratitude each day this month. That’s about all of the zeal I’ve seen lately.  It makes me sad. November shouldn’t be the only month we think about such things. Beauty is around us every day, all year, if we are willing to open our eyes and look for it.

I could spend my life writing tomes about the miserable experiences I’ve had.  I’m pretty sure that most of us could.  But I honestly believe that if we solely focus on what makes us miserable, we’re just going to continue being blind to the positive things that we all have going for us.

Now, with that said, I guess I’ll resign myself to your incessant Bitstrip postings and quit bitching about it.

5 Comments on “Facebook’s New Reality

  1. i couldn’t agree more! i don’t do bitstrips, and am incredibly frustrated with my friends that do. sigh..

    • I love you all the more for not getting on the Bitstrip Bandwagon, darling!

  2. WOW, great start to your come back to writing. I know you may not like it but it gives people a funny and different way to vent. Sometimes venting is all people have to talk about which some months I am guilty of that myself.
    I also know for a fact that a lot has been said about social media where people share to much,I’ve heard we should limited postings to once a day and all limits which is sad because it is your page for crying out loud.
    I feel like you can’t win no matter what you do on social media because there is always going to something wrong with what you post.

    • Oh I’m not suggesting that people not use social media however they want or that they should limit it to a certain number of times a day. Really I’m just annoyed that people are replacing experiences with these stupid cartoons. Of course it’s just my opinion so it doesn’t matter, but then again, it’s my blog so I get to say what I want, right? 😉

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