OK...I have been resisting the urge to rant about this for awhile as it may hurt some feelings or worse, make people angry! But then I realized 1) that is no fun! and 2) it is not good to keep your feelings bottled up right?
I resisted the Facebook phenomenon for quite a while. It wasn't until after I had my daughter that I finally gave in and that was just so that family could see pics of her in an easy way. It wasn't until I was very pregnant with Caden and very miserable that I spent a lot of the afternoons in bed with my computer while Brennan napped. After awhile there is nothing to do other than check FB every few hours and comment on baby message boards. Then I got a smart phone and the FB app was right there, attached to my hand. Now FB has become a way to pass time at a red light or while in the waiting room at the Drs office. I also use it to share my blog!
There are a lot of good things that come from FB. Lost dogs get found, I print coupons from certain vendors, I get my blog out to the masses, cute pics of my kids get shared, I get to read those funny greeting card sayings, people get in touch with people that without the invention of FB they never would have seen again.
There are a lot of bad things that come from FB. People put up annoying posters with sayings trying to get likes and shares, people think that other people care about their political views (don't even get me started on this one), teenagers fight, cheaters cheat (and get caught), people get in touch with people that without the invention of FB they never would have seen again.
I have had the feeling lately that FB has evolved at an alarming rate into more bad than good. Initially people complained that people were putting too many pics of their kids or saying bad words in their status updates. Now I feel most people don't even have status updates. They are too busy inviting people to play some game or sharing someone elses cause. None of this is that big of a deal.
What really gets me is the awful pictures that people post and share and comment on and then most importantly: force me, unsuspecting and innocent, to look at. Here I am looking at a friends newborn baby, scrolling down to see where someone went to dinner, then BAM! dead rotting puppy that got set on fire after being abused.
I do not want to see the dead baby laying on the ground because some mother didn't do the right thing. I don't want to see the guy in the hospital bed with the giant tumor hanging off of his face, or the guy missing a face, or the rare and awful looking genetic disorder that the little girl has, or the horrible thing some person did to that puppy. I understand that these things happen. The world is a bad place. That doesn't mean I want to look at it all the time.
No I am not a bad person. No I am not content to sit back and enjoy my comfortable middle class lifestyle while the world goes to hell. Yes I have a bleeding heart. I say yes much more than no to most causes...This doesn't mean that I need to see these images. I am of the personal belief that the VAST majority of these pics were taken and posted for the sheer shock and awe factor...to see how many likes they can get, shares they can get. Not to actually do anything proactive about it. And BTW, am I the only one that finds it odd that people 'like' the picture of the dead baby? I know there are exceptions to this rule. I know that not everyone posting these things are wrong or bad. Some do it to raise money, some as an outlet for a bad situation they are in. These are not the people I am referring to.
The sheer number of these shock and awe photos popping up lately leads me to believe that this is just for reaction value. Seriously when is the last time you saw a picture of a dead baby or mutilated puppy and actually did anything proactive about it? Did it make you not get an abortion or throw water on a burning puppy? Did it make you donate to a good cause or become an activist? I don't know maybe I am just a worse person than most or maybe I just need to get new FB friends;)
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