Sunday, October 14, 2012

Facebook Statuses that I'm tired of seeing

Do you keep some people on your Facebook friends list because it's kind of entertaining to watch all the drama? I do. There are a few general categories of Facebook statuses that I think have no business being on Facebook at all. When I rant on my blog about something that annoys me... I usually get high traffic on that post. If you're reading this, thanks for feeding the thing inside me that gets annoyed and needs to make fun of stuff :-P The following list is in no logical order (I will type them as they appear in my head):




1. Vague / Very General

I see this type of status a lot. They're pretending they don't want to talk about what's bothering them but it's pretty obvious they have a specific event in mind. Examples could include:

-Why can't all men just grow a pair? So tired of jerky guys... (lots of girls post something vaguely similar to this)
-Can I add any more problems to my already stressful life?
-Today is just awful
-Tired of all the drama
-Anything related to pain, sickness, illness (I understand once in a while. It gets really annoying when it's all you post about. I'm not your doctor so I really don't see a reason why I should care)

If you have something bothering you but you think it's too personal for Facebook... you're right. It is. Posting a vague status that is going to cause everyone to question what the specific problem is or offer you support / advice is just really needy. If you need someone to talk to about your problems... go talk to someone. Text them. Call them. Go talk to them face to face. If that's how you vent... fine. Don't think a vague Facebook status is somehow the same thing.

2. Political Views

I can tell you right now that we are not friends because our political ideologies match up perfectly. That's not how I make friends. I assume you have at least a few views that are different than mine and that's great. It makes us both individuals. When ALL you post about is your views or links or hate statuses about Obama, Romney, Democrats, Republicans, or anything else political... it tends to get annoying. Your link to why Paul Ryan is the devil won't convince me that he is... even if you post it 800 times. I live the way I do, have the views I do, and if enough unbiased evidence is presented, I reserve the right to change my views. I don't think very many people understand what unbiased means. When earning my history degree we would critique articles which held obvious forms of bias. We would point to their career, their family life, their employer or patron, their interests and passions, and anything else we could think of when we were looking for a way to discredit them. It's pretty easy to discredit YOU as a biased source when all you post is Obama hate links. Stop doing it because it's annoying... or feel free to keep doing it and I will try to ignore them. Either way works... this is America.

3. Promotional Ads

If you're on my Facebook friends list... I probably think you're alright most of the time. You're cool enough to talk to and it's probably worthwhile to me to see what's going on in your life. I don't, however, care enough to buy some random product you pitched on there. I was guilty of doing this and so I tried to separate it from my Facebook page as much as I could. You all know I have written e-books and history articles that are for sale on Amazon. I've tried to move as much of that promotional stuff as I could to my Facebook author page and my blog. When my stuff has free promotional periods... I post about them on websites that are for that instead of on my Facebook wall now. I would hate to become annoying. If you do this, I understand if you are pitching a product you enjoy or that you think is really cool. It only starts to get annoying when it's the only thing you post about and I start to have doubts as to whether you enjoy whatever product or service you're posting about or if you're just getting a cut of the profits.

4. Motivational Speeches

These get really annoying when the person you are trying to motivate is yourself. Let me start with a few general examples:

-I know now that I deserve better.
-Hate on me all you want but I will reach my goals.
-I've been through a lot but I'm determined to succeed.
-Anything related to how often you are at the gym.

If your status is just you talking to yourself... go find a mirror. I don't understand why something that people would call vain or conceded if someone said it verbally is somehow acceptable when typed on a Facebook wall. I'm not talking about specific accomplishments that you worked hard for because I will join in on congratulating you. What I mean is it's sad when your self-worth is directly tied to how many people like / comment when you give yourself a pep-talk. If you need to give yourself some extra motivation... leave yourself notes around the house. Psych yourself up when you're driving alone in your car. Play some energetic music. Do whatever you need to do. Self-motivation, however, should not be tied to social media.

5. Everything You Did Today

I like knowing what's going on in everyone's lives. I mean that in a very general way. When you share on Facebook every time you go to the bathroom, watch something on T.V., eat, go to work, go to sleep, etc., I start to wonder if you're angry with me for not stalking you. I get sick of seeing the gym on there too. If you were at the gym at 5 a.m. in the morning... that's great. I was sleeping. I didn't wake up to post a Facebook status to let you know that I was sleeping at 5 a.m. Guess what? I jog and go for bike rides. I don't let you know about it every time my ass touches the seat of my bike. So I like you all... but apparently not like some of you want me to because I really don't care about the details of everything you do every day... unless you are a hot girl and then there's the exception. :-P

Conclusion

So there you go. Am I going to get on your case whenever you post about one of the things on my list? No. I just recommend that you avoid doing one of those five things if you notice that's what you're doing very frequently. Use your common sense because it's a gift that is starting to become less and less common. I also hope that no one takes what I posted here as any sort of personal attack because I have lots of examples in mind from a variety of sources... I'm not targeting anyone specific. If you think I am... that's probably just your guilty conscience because you frequently post about one of the things on the list. Thanks for reading another one of my rants and please click on the link below to watch a video about how Joe Biden ruined the economy and has a creepy smile. Just kidding...