Tuesday, 3 April 2012

Facebook should not be a weapon!

OK I'll be the first to admit, I love Facebook. Like really love Facebook.

On a good day, I'd happily marry Facebook as it can brighten my day, lift my spirits and bring me closer to my friends. And to reconnect with people that you really shouldn't have lost touch with in the first place. And having some..um...eccentric and enthusiastic posters as my friends who see good old FB as a way to share all the bizarre things that happen in this big old world, it can have me laughing so hard I nearly wet myself.

And yes I need a life.

To me, FB is a great way to unwind after a long day or to entertain my friends (hey they entertain me so it's only fair). Harmless escapism.

But the lovely, loyal and heartwarming FB also has a seedy underbelly.

Oh we've all got those friends...you know them. You've got one too. You know, the friend who insists on clogging up live feed with inane status updates that chronicle minute by minute their lives, generally along the lines of what they had for breakfast, what they're going to have for lunch...

Or those that use FB as a cry for attention, posting cryptic items designed to make you feel sorry for them, worry about them and write to them to make sure they're OK.

You get the picture. Annoying but relatively harmless and nothing that hiding their status updates from your live feed can't fix.

But then there's those that use FB as a weapon. And with the right application, the fallout can be deadly.

It seems ridiculous that FB can have such a huge impact on a 30-something's life yet every day you read articles where FB has been blamed for breaking up this person's marriage, the disintegration of that friendship, dramatic misunderstandings and arguments etc etc.

We've also all seen those comments on friends' pages that have made us go, 'ouch'. Airing dirty laundry just ain't cool in my book. Take it offline, people.

And then there's the infamous and dreaded Unfriend and worse...the Block.

To me, unfriending should only be undertaken with those that you barely knew and probably won't ever see again, those who you've mutually had such little impact on each other's lives that they probably wouldn't even notice you've unfriended them. I can honestly say that I've probably only used it once or twice, and it's been those people that I'd known for a week two years ago that I haven't seen or spoken to since that don't make the cut.

If for some reason you have an issue with a friend, to me there's only two logical ways forward: either work it out in person (NEVER on FB) or just move on. You can choose not to respond to that person if they do comment on your page, that's your prerogative.

But unfriending is way harsh. Particularly when it leaves the unfriended scratching their heads wondering what they did wrong.

The block on the other hand is just cruel. Unless someone is genuinely stalking you (in which case feel free to block, report, file an AVO, whatever it takes) then the block is akin to using an Uzi to kill a fly. It's hurtful and in most instances, totally unnecessary.

So there you go. What does FB mean to you? A harmless place to play and share or have you too experienced the dark side?

Play nicely kids, and see you on FB!

xx

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