Social Media

I'm taking a break from Facebook.  So far, I don't miss it at all.  The news feed was always stale, even if I clicked "most recent". There were almost always more notifications from groups than friends, and more than anything, I was going to lose my personal filter and start saying what I was really thinking to people, and then I'd be the bad guy.

Should I do that anyway?  Well, it took years for me to get my filter in place, so I didn't think regressing was the best choice.

Why people felt it was OK to share their two cents on my wall when I wasn't asking for it, and got snarky when I shared my opinion about a situation that they had nothing to do with is beyond me.  I know what a caravan is, thanks, and I know that any band that marches in a parade has a trailer to  transport equipment around.  I also don't think the people who kept commenting on that particular Facebook post were in the same physical place at the same time that we were so they didn't know what traffic was like, or that the four cop cars that were dance-driving around were more likely to cause an accident than corral the caravan of chartered buses and band trailer.

I could go on, but the point here is that social media has gotten out of control.  We see this with our president very regularly on Twitter.  Whether you like him or not, it's a true statement.  People don't filter and the "social" aspect of social media is getting more rude and even borderlines bullying in some cases rather than keeping in touch with friends.  And the catty-ness of some mom groups is just as bad as the movie "Mean Girls".  Basically, people have forgotten how to be adults and how to set examples for the younger generations, ya know, like parents.

Might you be reading this on Facebook?  I haven't yet changed my sharing options from Twitter and I don't see anything wrong with sharing from Instagram.  You can take a flying leap if it's too hard for you to control yourself by saying, "I thought you were deactivating Facebook".  I'll call you a jackass in my head and give you side eye or a huge eye roll which you won't be able to see because we're not connecting in real life.  Therein lies my other point - if I'm not feeling that connection with you and I wouldn't say something to you in real life/face to face, I'm not interested in keeping in touch with you anyway.

Call it approaching 40/mid-life crisis/peri-menopause.  I don't care.  It's what I believe, and in the words of Eric Cartman, "I do what I want!".  Isn't that how we got into this predicament in the first place?  Or another way to end this post, which is much more eloquent, is to quote Dr. Seuss, "be who you are and say what you feel because those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter".

So, It's Been A While...

If we ever become all computerized and you could plug my brain into a screen to view files like on a flash drive, watch out!  Right now, I'm just thinking about my random playlist, but my thoughts in general are often quite out there.  The last two days I've been thinking about "Do the Hustle", then it switched over to "Hollywood Swingers", and when the read the title of my last post from February, "I'm Not An Addict" by K's Choice started playing and is stuck on repeat.

Anywho!  I've been in deep thought mode lately.  Maybe it's Mercury retrograde, maybe it's because we're sort of starting to change seasons, maybe it's because I'm a mom and my toddler talks about her "best friends" on a daily basis. Whatever the reason, I've been trying to figure things out as far back as elementary school.  The main focus is me never feeling like I truly fit in anywhere.

There was never just one group that I belonged to, and no lifelong "best friend".  Sure, my first best friend was Dominique (we're still friends); then once I started school it was Noelle (we're in touch via Facebook, but that's about it), then Allison (we see each other once or twice a year), then a few different ones throughout high school, and maybe in college.  Now I'd say if I had one, it would be my husband, but it's almost like those senior superlatives in high school - who cares?  It's a term or title that means nothing, at least not to me.

To make a potentially very long story short, there are people who mean a lot to me and who I need to make time to visit with - those friends I've had a really long time who I only see every now and then. There are newer friends I've made that it would be great to get to know better, but never invite them to do anything.

Will I ever feel like I "fit in"?  Probably not, but I'm well liked, and have always been a non-conformist. Maybe one day when we have a nice place to live and can invite all of our friends over from all walks of life and backgrounds and groups, everyone will like each other.  And really, that's the example I want my daughter to see.