Pondering Facebook

"My my my my my my my Poster Face"

Leaky Wits, Columnist, Pincher Creek Voice

Leaky Wits

In the "new world" we all socialize through Facebook. Coffee row is a dying art. Hen parties are a thing of the past and we now breeze by our friends in the grocery store so we can "one line chat" with them later from the comfort of our own home. Who would have thought that socializing, in the new millennia, would become an indoor sport.  I myself am guilty as charged when it comes to taking more time to visit on Facebook than in person these days. Cold weather, too busy, nothing to wear, behind in the housework, kids will be home from school soon; I have all the excuses to remain indoors more and more the older I get. Besides, having time to think before I speak makes me appear much wiser and even a tad cuter methinks. I have spell-check and can carefully choose my picture from 100 self portraits, then photoshop my profile and look my best in every snap. Much better than to catch me downtown with no makeup, my hair done by The Winds of Pincher Salon, in my shrunken fleece jogging pants.


So yes, Facebook becomes more doable as my days pass. Yet even at its best, there are those small Facebook annoyances that, from time to time, have me pointing with my little arrow at the "hide post" button. You know what I am putting down right? All those bloody games that everyone seems to have time to play but me, they pepper my pages. And what is it with all the self-help posters these days? Half my page is full of "be yourself" and "damn we're beautiful" banners. I wonder why that is. Are we, as adults, going through a middle age identity crisis and trying to patch old wounds from our youth? Maybe  we think  we can save the younger generation with cliché poster advice because we feel these words of wisdom, from anonymous donors, are more credible. Better to let someone else appear to have such insight then to  just come right out and take ownership of such a comment. That may open one up to a world of judgment.

To my way of thinking then, all these posters flooding Facebook are just contradicting themselves by appearing to have no owner. What would happen on our comment line if we just blurted out our own thoughts and wisdom? And everyone knew it was us. Hmmmm.... maybe I'll just say I baked a pie today. And then post a picture of it. That would be much safer. And everyone will say it was beautiful.

It will just be much safer to hide a little, just like I did back in high school, from the bullies, and the means girls, and those who came looking to make fun of something I just blurted out without having time to edit it first.

Damn - I wish I would have come up with whole Facebook thing first. Don't you?