According to this article Facebook is making us sad. It suggests that seeing how happy other people are is causing us to feel worse about our own lives. I want to say this is ridiculous, but I know it is ignorant to argue with statistics based on one’s own opinion or experience as the only data. Just because I live vicariously through the joy of other people's Facebook lives, does not mean this is true for everyone. So I decided to throw this argument a bone and try to think of some other ways Facebook has left me feeling sad.
Like when I am procrastinating doing something I know will be painful and take forever to complete. Or if I am stuck in an awkward social situation, like being at dinner with my husband's ex-wife and her husband while their daughter makes fun of them for wearing matching t-shirts. So I look to Facebook for an escape and all it has to offer me is Somethingville invitations and reposted posters. I appreciate that all of you are able to occasionally share things that you like, but save it for Pinterest. What drew me to Facebook in the first place, was that I could Facebook stalk you and your pictures, catching up on your life without you ever knowing it.
Another thing that makes me sad is when I spent forty-five minutes of my life that I cannot get back to concoct a witty phrase, and then nobody “likes” it. Either the people who say they are my "friends" are not currently on Facebook, or it got buried in their news feed before they had a chance to read it in all of its glory. Then I am faced with the dilemma of deleting and reposting, or heading to the pantry to scrounge up some comfort food. I don’t think other people understand how amused I was with myself when I birthed that clever phrase, and how much I think they should tell me how brilliant I am.
A third thing that makes me sad is something I am sorry to say I have been sucked into in the past, but that I do not want to ever do again, and that is to post partisan, politically-charged rhetoric on Facebook. First, there are the posts that are not based on fact, but are built on our ignorance. You know. The stuff with no truth or integrity designed to suck us out of real issues and into our brain stems. Surely we would all agree that the truth is more important than our partisan allegiance. And then there are those friends with whom I disagree who are really wonderful, intelligent, ethical people. (This is why I can’t understand why they don’t think like me). Maybe if those of us still dwelling in the dinosaur-age of Facebook would abstain from these things, we'd all be a little bit happier.
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