A little Facebook Debate
As follows is my Bargain Hunter blog for the week. It is current and hits home - a little too personally. Sometimes the truth needs to come out...
A Debate about Facebook and our Feelings
I got you with the title, didn’t I?
That was for a purpose, because this blog is super important. And by “super-important” I mean please read this one if you read any. It’s about people, their feelings, and how they feel they get hurt and/or annoyed by others they are friends with on Facebook. Should be fun.
When Facebook started, I never thought I would give in to its pressure. I had my own blog, never did have a Myspace, and Xanga was a distant disturbing memory. AOL Instant messenger? Those were the days of fun – changing our little statuses and chatting with my sisters. Sounds juvenile, right? Not really, because technology is fun. It’s changing at supersonic speed, and the laptops we type on today will someday be obsolete. But in the now, I enjoy every bit of technology that comes around. It all serves its purpose.
Facebook drew me in. It first was a place to look around and find friends you hadn’t seen in a long time. It is a place to reconnect. It soon warped into the go to for Social Media, a place you can plug in your business and advertise it, yet find that long lost friend from elementary school that moved away in 3rd grade. Its possibilities are endless, and it’s where we go in the morning to feel the pulse of our area. It’s where we go to find out just about anything – because Facebook is rapid and to the second. It keeps us informed, and allows us to get just about anything out there we want to say.
I use it to post my blogs, columns, and how I’m feeling that day. Quotes I post, because I’m a woman, pertain a lot to what’s going on in my life. That’s just how it is, plain and simple. Our friend list continues to grow, and soon we forget who all IS our friend. All those acquaintances build up, and even though we only communicate with maybe one hundred of them, we still have five hundred friends. We forget they are watching us and seeing our statuses – whether we are close with them or not.
As in the case of kids who start a Facebook, graduate, move away and gain other friends – those friends from high school are still on that friend list. How is this a problem? It’s not and it never should be. When we grow up we grow new ideas, gain different wisdom, are taught varied ideas – and not everyone is going to agree with them. This is where the sticky party comes in. People post ideas, views, and are passionate about them. They debate them with friends, dissect the ideas, and are a valid part of life – debating and arguing is part of that. I know I have Facebook friends that are louder than others. Their views are their own, and I read them and move on to the next thing on my feed. It’s part of the magical mix of being on Facebook – to each their own.
Sometimes, and only sometimes, long ago friends want to hold onto grudges and high school ways. This is how Facebook can show its ugly side – and bring out the beast in people.
Have you ever read a status and just knew that it was directed towards you? This is the power of the internet and the strength it seems to put into people. I’m not at all against this. Words have power, though, and they need to be used wisely. Wisdom fails in some people. In some cases it escalates to the point of madness. A word used by someone else, another person who knows they can annoy the person they don’t agree with, and the use of words gathered to hurt – and everyone from the original person’s past liking the status and agreeing. This is where it needs to stop. Especially when the person who is annoyed says things like, “…and unless someone asks you to give it, don’t voice your opinion.”
I didn’t realize Facebook was for keeping our opinions to ourselves unless people agree with it?
I’m saddened at the immaturity I see in peoples that should be growing up and nurturing opinions that can be their own. We have our own thoughts, dreams, and political views, and they shouldn’t be what everyone else is thinking. Change from one’s own roots is part of life. We need it to gather up ourselves and fly into this world. Other people that seek to keep them down by posting answers and statuses they would never say in person need to keep themselves in check. Especially when it escalates to the point of harassing phone calls that hurt and scare others – just because they think they can be the same person with the same view they were in high school. To tolerate, debate, and listen to others views is a virtue. Trying to shut them up because you don’t agree with them is just being a bully.
"And I think both the left and the right should celebrate people who have different opinions, and disagree with them, and argue with them, and differ with them, but don't just try to shut them up." ~Roger Ebert
A Debate about Facebook and our Feelings
I got you with the title, didn’t I?
That was for a purpose, because this blog is super important. And by “super-important” I mean please read this one if you read any. It’s about people, their feelings, and how they feel they get hurt and/or annoyed by others they are friends with on Facebook. Should be fun.
When Facebook started, I never thought I would give in to its pressure. I had my own blog, never did have a Myspace, and Xanga was a distant disturbing memory. AOL Instant messenger? Those were the days of fun – changing our little statuses and chatting with my sisters. Sounds juvenile, right? Not really, because technology is fun. It’s changing at supersonic speed, and the laptops we type on today will someday be obsolete. But in the now, I enjoy every bit of technology that comes around. It all serves its purpose.
Facebook drew me in. It first was a place to look around and find friends you hadn’t seen in a long time. It is a place to reconnect. It soon warped into the go to for Social Media, a place you can plug in your business and advertise it, yet find that long lost friend from elementary school that moved away in 3rd grade. Its possibilities are endless, and it’s where we go in the morning to feel the pulse of our area. It’s where we go to find out just about anything – because Facebook is rapid and to the second. It keeps us informed, and allows us to get just about anything out there we want to say.
I use it to post my blogs, columns, and how I’m feeling that day. Quotes I post, because I’m a woman, pertain a lot to what’s going on in my life. That’s just how it is, plain and simple. Our friend list continues to grow, and soon we forget who all IS our friend. All those acquaintances build up, and even though we only communicate with maybe one hundred of them, we still have five hundred friends. We forget they are watching us and seeing our statuses – whether we are close with them or not.
As in the case of kids who start a Facebook, graduate, move away and gain other friends – those friends from high school are still on that friend list. How is this a problem? It’s not and it never should be. When we grow up we grow new ideas, gain different wisdom, are taught varied ideas – and not everyone is going to agree with them. This is where the sticky party comes in. People post ideas, views, and are passionate about them. They debate them with friends, dissect the ideas, and are a valid part of life – debating and arguing is part of that. I know I have Facebook friends that are louder than others. Their views are their own, and I read them and move on to the next thing on my feed. It’s part of the magical mix of being on Facebook – to each their own.
Sometimes, and only sometimes, long ago friends want to hold onto grudges and high school ways. This is how Facebook can show its ugly side – and bring out the beast in people.
Have you ever read a status and just knew that it was directed towards you? This is the power of the internet and the strength it seems to put into people. I’m not at all against this. Words have power, though, and they need to be used wisely. Wisdom fails in some people. In some cases it escalates to the point of madness. A word used by someone else, another person who knows they can annoy the person they don’t agree with, and the use of words gathered to hurt – and everyone from the original person’s past liking the status and agreeing. This is where it needs to stop. Especially when the person who is annoyed says things like, “…and unless someone asks you to give it, don’t voice your opinion.”
I didn’t realize Facebook was for keeping our opinions to ourselves unless people agree with it?
I’m saddened at the immaturity I see in peoples that should be growing up and nurturing opinions that can be their own. We have our own thoughts, dreams, and political views, and they shouldn’t be what everyone else is thinking. Change from one’s own roots is part of life. We need it to gather up ourselves and fly into this world. Other people that seek to keep them down by posting answers and statuses they would never say in person need to keep themselves in check. Especially when it escalates to the point of harassing phone calls that hurt and scare others – just because they think they can be the same person with the same view they were in high school. To tolerate, debate, and listen to others views is a virtue. Trying to shut them up because you don’t agree with them is just being a bully.
"And I think both the left and the right should celebrate people who have different opinions, and disagree with them, and argue with them, and differ with them, but don't just try to shut them up." ~Roger Ebert
Comments