Reason #10: They're Going Down & They're Taking Me With Them!

I get it, people. You had a bad day. We all get 'em.



As a social norm, we write what and how we are feeling in our status update and undoubtedly you won't be feeling so great every day. Tires go flat, babies keep you up at night, professors can be a pain... that's life and Facebook is about, well, your life. There is a plus side to being able to log your daily (or hourly... you know who you are!) emotions and it isn't necessarily because everyone enjoys reading them. The most important side of having all your emotions journaled right there in chronological order is to see first hand what YOU are projecting out into the universe. Who you are is what you are projecting and self-projection these days is Twitter and Facebook... duh! I do it, too!

As a loyal Facebook-er, I have clicked on "Recent Updates" every day for the past 3+ years and can honestly say I haven't missed a single friends' status update. I scroll down until I get to the one I read before on the previous Facebook log-in and then I'm all caught up. Having done this so religiously for so many years, I have a pretty good idea of how everyone wants to be seen as a person. This isn't always a bad thing! Many of you have beautiful families or fulfilling lives that you update about in your statuses and I love reading them! I'm simply saying that if you had black and white pages of JUST your status updates for however long you've been on Facebook, you'll have a key insight on exactly what you are projecting to the world. Is this a good thing? Of course! Are you utilizing this vast technology to impliment change when some things look like they need to be worked on in your life? Hmmm... not all of you. 'Cause all evidence in most cases are to the contrary.

It is almost if people have bought into the notion that their life sucks and that's their fate! Status update upon status update of how many bad things are going on in their life pile up until all you really are projecting is grumpiness and bad attitude. I use to not notice, but on my journey to seek out the positive and weed out the negative I'm noticing more and more... some people just BREATHE negativity! Surely they aren't always having a bad day? If the archive of your updates reads nothing but bad days, it starts to look like pity-seeking. There's only so many friends who will continue to comment uplifting quips on your status, you Negative Nancy, before you become some eyeliner away from being an ignored emo kid.



Oh, and it isn't just status updates. I have friends from every spectrum of the political and religious arena and although I'm pretty set in my ways, I love emersing myself in the diversity. I noticed a very long time ago that I had become one of those people who were choking my friends with possibly offensive comments regarding my own views. Notice I said "a very long time ago"? As soon as I took advantage of reviewing my update archive, I cut it out quick. That person is not the person I wanted to be... or even liked! I used my epiphany to turn my whole prospective around and I've even become a better, less judgemental person because of it. Where, I ask, are these other people's epiphanies?!

Some are using Facebook as a soundboard for their views and opinions which of course is okay! What I don't feel is okay are the people who sound off their political views in order to insult and mud-sling. You wouldn't walk into a party and start saying how stupid a religion is and rant about how awful of a person others are for who they voted for in the last election, would you? At least if you did, you wouldn't be very well-liked. I'm all for "being yourself", or course, but since when did Facebook make it okay to throw out social decency and good ol' "how your mama raised ya" philosophies of right and wrong?

It's taken me a long time to admit this. I've honestly wanted to de-friend people for it, but haven't because I would feel like the ultimate hypocrite. What kind of person would I be for always advocating everyone get along with people from every walk of life and then de-friend the people who I don't get along with myself? In retrospect, I fear the backlash. But yes, it is hurtful and unfair to behave that way and shouldn't I be a bigger advocate for positivity? After all, if I'm on a mission to eliminate the negative from my life and YOU are negative... well... get my drift?

So there it is. Reason #10 to stop Facebook-ing. If it is going to become the norm for people to just be negative and announce it whenever the mood strikes them, well, that's your bag. I'm sure everyone's purpose in doing so is not to bring me down (at least I'm hoping!), but since it is doing just that, then I don't mind quietly looking the other way.

Next up... Reason #9: T.M.I.(Too Many Infants!)