Communication without consequence

I’m almost ready to boycott facebook.

I like the concept. I like being able to see what friends and family are doing. I like re-connecting with old friends.

But I’m tired of the constant “name your own” ville updates. I’m tired of seeing horoscopes and love tests, and 27 videos of someones favorite songs. You may like them and it may be good music, but it doesn’t need to clutter my wall.

I’m tired of hearing how many times you visit Starbucks during the day.

I’m tired of knowing every stop or every location you’re at during the day.

I’m tired of the “Re-post if …..” Because I do care, and I do love my mom, but I don’t have to repost it show it. How about you tell your mom you love her?

I’m tired of people’s everyday comments that are overexaggerated and downright sensationalized. People are entitled to their feelings, but I don’t need to know every single one of them. And not everything is amazing or unbelieveable.

I’m tired the rant clearly aimed at someone, but we don’t name them….”I’m sooo done with blah blah blah.”

More than anything, I’m tired of the shoot from the hip rants that most facebookers do these days. For example….As much as I disagreed with the Casey Anthony verdict, it is what it is. A bitter, scathing, sarcastic facebook post or status does absolutely nothing to change what happened.

I was most appalled when a good friend weighed in on someone else’s facebook post on the issue. All she said was, and I’m paraphrasing, “That’s the problem with circumstantial evidence…..”

You would’ve thought she said something about someone’s mother.

It’s uncalled for. Just as much as you had the right to be rude, she had the right to give her opinion. Especially in a public forum. Don’t post it if you don’t want a response. And by the way, you might get a response you don’t like. Go figure.

The problem with facebook and social networking these days it it allows for communciation without consequence because it’s not face to face. Type it, hit enter, and there it is. No repercussions. And if you don’t like it, I blow you up in a subsequent post, or I just “unfriend” you. There really is no confrontation. All we’re really doing is hiding behind a keyboard and monitor.

I miss the days of “Don’t speak unless spoken to.” Better yet, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”

Social networking has given us a forum, but it doesn’t eliminate the need for manners or etiquette. Everyone’s a comedian. Everyone’s a critic.

Again, the Casey Anthony thing was just out of control. It was apalling the way people responded to the Casey Anthony verdict. It made me long for the days of a (insert news channel here) helicopter follow a white Bronco down a California freeway. I remember gathering in the university center to watch the OJ verdict, and the gasp throughout the room when it was read.

And then people talked. There was conversation.

“Can you believe it?”

“No way.”

“Wow.”

No one had the guts to tell a stranger that they hoped OJ died on his way home and that he and his defense burned in hell.

I wrote several months ago how unconnected we are in a society that’s supposed to be more connected and networked than ever. This is just another example.

Thanks to social networking we feel like we’re stars. The world can see and hear our views. It’s like we mean something. It seems our self worth is tied up in the number of facebook friends we have or the number of people that follow us on twitter.

It’s a predicament for me. I’m not sure if I want to unfriend the guilty parties, or hope that they ease up. But they’re my friends so it’s a tough spot to be in. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many facebook friends I have. So if I gotta do what I gotta do…

Oh, the irony as I’m using a blog and facebook to write my thoughts.