The Novelty Wears Off

I've been on Facebook since the summer of 2007. Before then, I resisted joining because it seemed like just another one of those things to which one becomes addicted, on top of the already-addictive instant-messaging, and gaming, to name a few. (For the record, I am NOT and never will be a gamer.) But my 10-year high school reunion was coming up, and I wanted to know what had happened to my graduating class, 99% of whom I hadn't seen or spoken to since graduating. So I caved and joined. To my dismay, it turned out that my high school reunion ended up being organized on Facebook, and by the time I joined, I had missed the reunion by about 5 days. Phooey.

Still, I was able to add a bunch of people from high school onto my friends list and even managed to reconnect with some of them (i.e. exchange the occasional message). It was fun to see what had happened to everyone, and shocking to realize that like me, many were married, and some even had kids already. It was shocking because up until Facebook came along, I still remembered all of these people as they were when they were 18 or 19. Now, these people were in their last 20s, some looking older, some looking fatter, and some looking balder. For others, it seemed like time had stopped.

Facebook was a total savior when I was on maternity leave. I couldn't log onto my computer at home too often, but I did have Facebook installed on my Blackberry, and I checked it often to keep in touch with the outside world so that I didn't die of boredom. My moms' group was also on Facebook, and all meeting invites were sent from there, so it was a great way to stay in touch.

But now, 3 years into using Facebook, the novelty is wearing off. I'm sick of getting invitations for Farkle, FarmVille, MobWars, Mafia Wars, Circle of Moms, and whatever other stupid annoying Facebook app is out there, taking my personal information without my permission. Which is why I don't have any Facebook apps. I'm sick of reading some peoples' status updates, because it's the same old, same old.

Some people, it seems, post status updates every hour, telling people what they ate, where they're going, why they're still awake, why they're going to sleep. Then you get the people who post status updates about how happy they are. Great that you're happy, but if you're going out of your way to say that you're happy, are you REALLY that happy, or are you just putting up a front? And finally, there are people who post stuff about how crappy their lives are. Dude, I'm sorry you're going through a rough patch, but you don't have to tell the whole freaking world about it. My biggest status update pet peeve, however, is when you get some annoying person who posts a status update that begins or ends with "paste this into your status". And I won't even go into the annoying bra color thing from a few weeks ago.

And you know what? I'm guilty of it too. When I was on mat-leave, 90% of my status updates were about my kid. I'd even post status updates about my kid's poohs, for crying out loud. I sometimes go through my day thinking, "Hey, this would be a hilarious status update." I went through a few rough patches where I posted grumpy updates. I'll bet you that people who read those status updates just kind of rolled their eyes and went on to the next status update. I sometimes even post multiple status updates in a day too. But you know what? I'm running out of witty things to say, and quite frankly, I'll bet that most people don't even care, just as I don't really care about what other people post in their status.

People who join a bunch of groups on Facebook also annoy me. For example, there's a group about people against the prorogation of the Canadian parliament. I am 100% completely against the prorogation as well, but I didn't join the group. What's the point? Nothing ever seems to come out of them anyway. And yes, it sounds defeatist and passive, but my point is that most people who join these groups want to state their position, but they don't really want to do anything about it. If you really care, join a real cause and do some real work for that cause. Don't join a group on Facebook just to act like you care. To be fair, there are people who join these Facebook groups and who are actively involved in their causes. Hats off to them. It's the rest of the posers that piss me off.

Oh, Facebook...you and I have such a love-hate relationship. You allow me to check out people who I haven't seen or spoken to in ages, and yet, many resident Facebookies annoy the crap out of me. And yet, I log on every day to see what's going on, just to see what those people whose status updates annoy me so much have to say. And for me to roll my eyes when I read said updates. Will I ever leave Facebook? Who knows. What I do know is that it will continue to annoy me as long as I log on.