Facebook Pitfalls

Today I friended, yet again, Iva Bigen,sigh. Totally Monty Python sniggering adolescent humour. I can practically hear the page tittering away behind the scenes. Tittering. (They’d be laughing at that too.) This is probably the lowest point to which Facebook sinks. Made-up smutty profiles for idiots to click blindly while amassing reams of ‘friends.’
You simply cannot attain your FIRST 5000 friends unless you click on every single offer. Spend time thinking about their profiles and how they would fit in with your FIRST 5000 and you’re done like dinner. Unless, of course, you spend all night at the computer. Click. Click. Click. On my site there have been some brilliant discussions on meaning and nuance, goals, ambitions and sharing new work. Makes me proud to sort of know these folks. At least to be a legitimate evesdropper.
But its a take-your-pick scenario. EITHER 10,000 friends OR thoughtful, brilliant discussions. Kinda becomes clear when you put it like that, eh? The ol’ life choices thing: Get rich or be wise. No shortcuts. By going for the numbers, I’m Donaldtrumping my Facebook world. Who’s got the most friends? Me! Me! And what’s that worth? Well…
I’ve told myself, cynically, that WHO they are doesn’t matter. (But it does). That Facebook is merely a promotion scheme after all and I should fall in with it, stop thinking about it and move on. But it obviously none of that to so many lonely and disconnected souls, who believe they ARE meeting people, are the focus of some attention, that their lives have taken a turn for the better.
So what are the pitfalls?
1) Missing the closer contact Facebook could give you to family
2) Using Facebook to enhance your portfolio at the expense of your soul
3) Giving in to the temptation of adolescent sniggering and post nothing but mindwarp, smearing all your ‘friend’ sites with smut.
(no, I’m not tempted).
4) Spending all your time on it at the expense of building a real life so that when the Facebook crash comes, as it will, you will be empty-fingered
5) Garnering a daily bunch of ‘oh I wish I hadn’t said THAT’S, which cause you to keep your head down when you’re out and slink through alleys
6) Thinking people are your friends on no basis but a request leading to that dreary day when you discover they are not.
7) Dribbling your creative away on nothingness
Saying things you don’t mean to everyone in your world, jsut to get a laugh or attention, as you become a person you should despise
9) Advertising yourself as someone you are not to your community
10) Not taking real risks in your life because you believe you have a captive audience on your computer screen.
It’s all about living or existing. It feels as though I’m about to throw the numbers racket back in and count up the names who really matter. What if I told all my new ‘friends’ that I don’t know them, probably won’t get to know them but only wish to have these large totals so that I can advertise my new book when it comes out? I wouldn’t respond to such a request. Nobody sane would. Does everyone on Facebook have an agenda?
This post’s probably a downer. Yet I’m feeling fairly optimistic this morning, trying to be honest and understand. Sometimes I feel I’m in the midst of a big crowd and I’m trying to find something to climb up on so I can see the big picture. Aren’t we all?