A Facebook Nation . . . of whiners?

A fluke spring cold knocked me down for the count earlier this week – leaving me nothing to do but channel surf and scroll through Facebook on my cell phone.

Yes, I know I would have bettered myself with reading – but the cold medicine wouldn’t even let me get through a chapter without falling asleep. It was one of those weeks.

While scrolling through the endless sea of updates something became glaringly obvious to me – Facebook has changed our world.

In a good way?

In a bad way?

I’d say both.

On one hand, it’s nice to keep in touch with people you might not necessarily ever see again – like high school classmates and the branch of the family tree you don’t want to publicly acknowledge. Facebook is a way of keeping up with their life without actually being part of it.

 

On the flip side, Facebook (and Twitter and My Space, etc.) has also turned the world into a bunch of “oversharers.”

I mean, people are on the site glamorizing their two-week old relationship one second and then explaining they got dumped in the next. I’m not exactly sure that’s healthy.

I know I’m guilty of certain behavior on Facebook, too, including complaining about my co-workers and arguing politics with my family – but I think there are still some things that should remain private.

Sharing pictures of your pets and kids is one thing, but sharing your sexual escapades and general disdain for your ex is another. And, if I’m being honest, I’d rather see pictures of the pets than the kids (that’s just me, though).

I can’t help but think that some people are sharing this information because of all the people that crowd into their threads to give them a virtual pat on the back and tell them they’re the better person and things will get better for them soon. It’s an information highway pity party really. I honestly think some people get off on everyone on Facebook essentially running to their rescue.

Facebook is a great tool for networking, keeping old friends updated on big life events and even gossiping – but it shouldn’t be used as a self-esteem booster.

One of my biggest pet peeves on Facebook is those long-winded status updates – you know, share if you love your mom, or share if you have the best big sister in the world, blah, blah, blah. I’ve yet to see one that says to share if my cynicism is starting to jade me – that one I might get behind.

I personally love the people who post those and then say they’ll be “watching” and know who does it and who does not do it. Like somehow not doing it means you hate your mother or something.

I also think that people that like their own posts have narcissistic personality traits that should be explored with a therapist – but that’s a whole other complaint – along with the spelling and grammar complaints (The Kardashians are losers people, not loosers).

So, now I’m going to leave you to flame me about how I used my blog to blast Facebook. Go ahead, I deserve it. I’ll be over on the Soap Central message board whining about how stupid the current multiple personality story is on ‘General Hospital.’

What do you think? Has Facebook created a society of whiners?