Facebook (FB) was a great thing back in the day. It gave me the opportunity to interact with people that I lost in touch with, whether it was elementary school, high school, college, or law school. It allowed me to reconnect and immerse some wonderful people back into life.
However, nothing is perfect and Facebook is far from it. I feel like Larry David at times when I complain about Facebook, but there are certainly a few things that annoy me that I’ve really cut back on the interaction.
- When people feel the need to complain about a local business in a community newsgroup without alerting the business first to fix the problem. There is a local pizzeria in town that is my favorite locally. I’ve been going there for 20 years, not everything is perfect. If something goes wrong and an order is messed up (which rarely does), I accept it. Don’t feel the need to complain about it on FB, but some people want to be heard.
- If you haven’t tried everything, it’s not the greatest. Unless you have eaten at every pizzeria in town or gone to every dentist in a 25-mile radius, your pizzeria and dentist are not the best. It’s your opinion, not some declaration from the heavens above.
- Attacking people for their opinion, unless they try to pass off their opinion as fact. People can have the opinion that the earth is flat, but the fact is that it’s not.
- People will attack you on FB that they wouldn’t have the courage to say it to your face. People feel stronger and more courageous behind a keyboard.
- Unless the community group is made up solely of medical professionals, asking people on a community group, medical questions, is a bad idea. WebMD is a better resource.
- I know it’s for a good cause, but asking people to donate in honor of your birthday is a bit much. You’re lucky if I wish you a happy birthday if I remember. I’m not donating to your charity, I’ll donate to mine and it won’t be in your honor.
- I’m not buying your weight loss product, no matter how much I like you. The only weight loss product that works consistently for me, eating fewer calories.
- My friendship shouldn’t be exploited to sell skincare or Tupperware or baking supplies. If you ask, I rarely post about 401(k) plans.
- If you don’t want people to criticize your political opinion, don’t post it. Everyone on FB is apparently, political experts. That previous sentence was sarcastic.
- FB provides too much support to narcissists. By the way, unless you’re a supermodel, the countless selfies are a bit much.
