Thursday, August 25, 2011

Dirty Laundry


Well, it's time to offend some people. Not intentionally, well maybe somewhat intentionally, but I'm certainly not going to call anyone out, because I've been guilty of making some pretty dumb FB posts before - but here it goes.

With the inundation of social media, it's not surprising that people use it to air grievances or family/personal/relationship problems. I understand, it's nice to be able to vent - to get what's troubling you off your mind and perhaps, get some feedback as to whether you're alone in your frustration. Let's face it, though, how many times have your read a post by someone and it made you cringe. I mean, you see a post regarding an on-going marriage debacle or a hate-filled rant about a personal encounter with someone or a rant about a problem at work that borders on the insane and you ask yourself, was this the best venue for such things? I know I've posted some things that afterwards, I said, "Wow, that had no place on a Facebook page."

It truly is amazing how sitting at a computer insulates you from the realities of the world around you. Sometimes you can be anonymous (like on message boards), but not on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn (if you're using LinkedIn for this, then there is no helping you).

It's hard to fathom why someone would air their dirty laundry - I guess they are truly looking for support from friends and family. Maybe there is a place for that on Facebook, but on a general wall post?

"Hey everyone in my Facebook network, I hate my spouse! Just thought I'd let you know."

"Hey, everyone on Twitter, I just ran into an old friend, God she's gotten fat!" Yes, I actually read a post like this.

"Hey my FB homies, I'm sittin' at home chillin' with my girl We're gonna get busy in a bit." Yep, that was on a Facebook post one time, too.

Now, trying to be a moral compass, I am not, but sometimes, common sense eludes people when they sit down and start typing. Perhaps Facebook should have a filter that asks the question, "Do you really want to post this?" just to make someone take a second to review what they typed. Of course, we all know people who even this filter would not dissuade them from posting their laundry - or perhaps Facebook and Twitter could employ psychologists for people to confide in - Perhaps Dr. Phil will be available..."How's that working for you?"

I think all of us enjoy reading 99% of the updates on Facebook and seeing the pictures people post (we'll get into some of the pictures that get posted on FB at a later date). People are interesting, and quite often our friends have important things to share. It's just the "one-percenters" that seem to make people cringe.

So, I'm not going to make a call to action to have people stop the rants - nope, it's not my place to do that. I just ask that you keep it civil and keep it fun.