June 10: Things that annoy me on FaceBook.

It’s been like a whole week since we have had a list – did you miss it? I have had to physically stop myself from writing lists for my blogs, but I couldn’t resist this one. Let me know if you have any to add or any comments to share! Don’t forget you can comment at the bottom of the post, too 🙂 You will also notice that I have developed somewhat of an obsession with someecards… Thanks Rach!

So, I give you : Things that annoy me on FaceBook.

The VagueBooking.

This is where someone writes something that is deliberately vague along the lines of  “Oh, I can’t do this anymore, Somebody  help me please!” which prompts someone to ask “OMIGOD! r u okayyyyyy?”. Then we get a status full of people asking what is wrong and how they can help, and of course, the ever present ” I luv youhhh” which is ignored by the status writer.

The “DW” and/or “I can’t say” comment.

Look, whenever I see someone post the DW comment the first thing the goes through my head is “When things trouble you, call DW! – Darkwiiiing Duck!” followed promptly by my keyboard. If you don’t want to talk about something, why put it on a networking site which is, after all, for speaking to people? Just don’t put it up! Same goes if you “can’t” talk about something.
For example:

• “OMG OMG OMG”
• What’s up
• SORRY I CAN’T SAY AT THE MOMENT!
• Then why have you even mentioned it on FaceBook you twit?

The “I’m too sexy for a shirt in any of my photos look at my biceps come at me girls” display pictures.

This picture says it way better than I ever could:

I don’t care about your abs, your pecs, or anything else. If I wanted to see photos of you shirtless every day, I would check myself into a somewhere that FaceBook was non-accessible so that I could receive help. Seriously, Men of the world: Women honestly don’t care that much, and the first thing they think when they see your 300 mobile uploads of your naked torso in the bathroom mirror is generally “What a Douche.”
Do us all a favour, yeah? Leave the shirt on.

The complaints about Time Line.

Are you ready for this, FaceBook users? Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t care if you don’t like the new timeline. Your pointless rants and statuses about it won’t change the fact that it is here and here it is to stay. Any sort of email or link you get which magically promises to remove timeline is spam and it won’t happen. Don’t forget, there was an uproar like this the last five times FB changed its format, and ever time you screamed for the “old” FaceBook back which is the one you were whinging about in the first place!

And Finally:

People who add friends off your list that they have never met or spoken with or even knew of their existence.

Ok, let’s be honest. These are the stupid reasons they are my FaceBook friends:

• I know them
• I interact with them
• I would say “hi” to them in the street because I recognise them.

These are the stupid reasons they are not your FaceBook friend:

• You don’t know them
• You don’t interact with them
• You wouldn’t say “hi” to them in the street because you don’t recognise them.

“Nuff said.

April 11: Reliance upon the internet

I realised today just how reliant I am on the internet for every day things:

Banking
Conversing
Socialising
Business
Training
Blogging

We have, at best, a dodgy internet provider (I’m pretty sure they’re just a bunch of DoDo’s). We are left without access just as often as we are left with it. And I always find myself left kind of at a loose end when I know I can’t get online and I start to get antsy.

My dodgy connection is one of the reasons I ceased playing games on line, it’s why I don’t make catch up dates on FB and it’s why I would be lost without my SmartPhone.

Do you remember when the internet was actually something that only the “rich” could afford. Or, if you were lucky, they had it at school for research. I remember when my mum first got it on and I tried to play Neopets. I could go to the page, and make mum a cuppa whilst it loaded. Any way, I digress… a lot…

I spend a lot of time online networking, trainings, buying and selling. It is how I fill days, make payments, shop, spend; it is, ironically, where I go when I need human interaction.

We live in an age where the most common answer is “Google it.” If you’re not on Facebook it’s like you’re an alien species. If you have limited access to the internet, you’re technologically retarded and are restricted in most things, such as employment opportunities and study.

Our entire world is now internet based: you can grocery shop, interact, run the bloody stock market on it.
Without it, our whole world would be doomed… like Mayan doomed.

My baby sisters don’t remember a world without internet. They have a world where FaceBook controls every thing they do.

My big sister and I remember days on end running rampant around the Pine plantation the was bordering our town. We remember going to someones house and hoping they’re home, instead of FaceBooking them.

We have become a society that is so reliant on the Web that nearly everyone is lost, or bordering on death by boredom, without it. Now, I could set myself a goal and say “no internet for a day” to try and prove myself wrong… except I know that I would only drive myself crazy and end up failing miserably.

What do you think?
Do you think that the internet has become such a fixture in societies life that we would not cope without it?
Do you ever abstain from it, just to see if you can?
Or are you one of the few that doesn’t live on it?

I love the internet, don’t get me wrong. But it scares me when I sit back and realise just how much I feel I need it every day, just for the most basic of tasks.

January 15: My Mother is on FaceBook

Oh FaceBook! That wonderful, horrendous, innovative, time-wasting, fabulous, pain-in-that-patootie that more than 800 Million users have subscribed to.

Personally, I love FB. I can catch up with my friends over seas and interstate; keep an eye on two of my little sisters; keep up to date with the happenings in all the peoples lives; and vent whatever feelings I have for the day. I can play games, find bargains, promote my blog & build a business.

I can have my Mum writing “AHEM!” whenever my status is less than clean. I have arguments with my family members. I can have my grandmother defriend me. I can have people offended. I can do all sorts on FaceBook!

Personally, I think my cousin, Joshua, has the right idea, to a certain extent. I am one of the very few family members he has on his FB. This means he doesn’t have to censor his thoughts, feelings, language or pictures.

Because my Mother is on FaceBook, a lot of my status’, posts, pictures and the like are heavily censored, and the asterix button is used beyond belief. Because my Grandmother is on FB, I tend to not put the deeper thoughts up but stick as much as possible to light hearted little comments. Because my baby sisters are on FaceBook, I try to avoid putting things up that may worry them unnecessarily. Can you see where I am going here?

FaceBook is a common reason behind arguments, bust ups, cheating, job loss, and broken hearts.

It is the place where you can hide all you want but that doesn’t mean that no one can see you!

But on the flip side: it is the place where friendships can form and relationships blossom; it helps keep you in touch with friends who are no longer near you; it can provide you with a common platform with a person so that a new business or group may bloom and grow.

FaceBook to me is a place where the written word speaks louder than a stadium full of fans at a Metallica concert. Your whole personality is on view, ready to be judged and harrassed. It is the place where the highest form of insult is a “de-friending” and it cuts to the bone.

It is a place full of people who wont say this because it may offend them, they wont say that because they might argue with them; it’s a place where you have to tread so carefully, and use so delicately, that at some stage it may have become less of a “personal” profile, but more of a “global-so-I-get-to-judge-you” profile.

I have to admit, I am one of the ones who if you put a post up that I have something to say about, I will say it. If you put something up on what is essentially a forum, you need to expect results, and not always ones that are sympathetic to your personal views. I have had full on debates over FB and relished in them. I have learnt a lot from these debates, and one woman in particular, named Sue, has educated me through them.

Sometimes I do resent having to censor my thoughts and words, and have the theory that is MY Facey, no one elses, so why should I censor it at all?

But then I think – do I really want my grandparents seeing me in a light that is full of swearing, the occasional racism, and ranting?
Do I want my little sisters thinking that its ok to drop the F-Bomb in a public place, where everyone from your family to your possible future boss seeing it?

And do I really want that phone call from my Mother saying “AHEM, GERT?!?!”

FaceBook really is a dangerous thing: its full of “moles”, stalkers, information-getters, slag offs, bitch fights, revealed secrets.

I guess the point of this blog is to highlight that everything you do, and write, view or take part in, is available for public consumption. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that just because your security profiles are the highest they can be that your profile is totally private!

How do you use your FaceBook?

What are your favorite things about it?

Drop me a comment and let me know your answers, I am looking forward to them!

Love, Hugs, and Log-Outs,
K xxx

January 1st – Your Social Network… is it your Social Circle?

If I was to say “Facebook”, what would your first thought be?

Games?
Antagonism?
Friends?
Drama-Filled?

The average person has approximately 130 friends on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics). I have about 370,  my mum has 507, and my best friend has just 73.

To me, Facebook is a place to keep up with those friends whom you don’t see very often, or who are over seas; it’s a place where I can play my games, or just chill for a few mind-numbing hours.

But… how many of people on your Social Network are actually in your Social Circle?

For me, this is easy. There is Daniel; my immediate family (Hello, Family!); There are a few friends – and by few I mean approximately 5; there is my Lubber, Tamika, and her husband; and that’s it.

There is not a person on my friends list who I wouldn’t introduce to my Grandparents. However, there is one or two who I keep on there purely out of selfish enjoyment for watching their “poor-me” lives.

Lets do a quick count –   my 5 friends, and Tamika – I have six people who are in my “friend” Social Circle. That doesn’t seem to be many at all when you compare it to the 370 people on my Social Network.

We all see the Chain-Statuses that go around – “I will be there for all my FB friends, repost if you would be, too…” or to some variation.
But really – would they? You don’t see them for coffees, you don’t visit them, they don’t visit you, you don’t call them or communicate in any way other than FB, and you really only know what they choose to air on that wonderful, if  not painful, network, FaceBook.

I went through a little while ago and deleted over 300 people – all who would “be there for me”, but none who ever demonstrated that at my very lowest. I don’t believe that being friends of FB makes you friends in reality. Friends in reality takes time, commitment, communication and effort. FB friends require a “poke” every now and then, maybe a wall post (Insert Generic “Oh, Hai, GF! Ain’t seen yo in fo-evah!)  or a photo tag.

Being in a social circle is a completely different kettle of proverbial fish. My social circle mainly consists of hugs, “get effed”, lots of “lubb” and sometimes a crazy murder concealed purely by awesomeness. Throw into that mix tears, screaming, breakdowns, tantrums, the occasional hour or five of bitching, and the knowledge that if you wake me before 9am with out a Coffee Milk, you’re liable to be shot. To me, this is what my circle is and I would be lost without it.

I have been the victim of “FB friend-syndrome”, as I call it: The place where you’re so comfortable in your FB friendship that you think it extends into real life. I have known others who have actively done this, just to get a giggle for themselves.

I guess, the moral of this rambling blog is to make sure you know the way to the difference. Sort your true friends from the ones who watch you just to see you fall. And, above all else: value those who deserve your friendship, and who show you how important you are to them. Don’t take that little “Friend Request” to mean you have a million friends.

Your friend count means little more than an arena for people to be spectators into your life.

Hugs and Mushy Stuff,
K xxx