“Jane Doe is reading chapter 13 of her Math 101 textbook for the FOURTH time this week! OMG! This class is sooooo difficult, (screaming)!”
How obnoxious was that last sentence?
Almost every person reading this has a Facebook account, and within the Facebook demographic everyone has that one “friend” that never shuts up.
I was recently “friended” by a girl I met early in high school. She and I hardly knew each other beyond “hello,” but we became reunited via Facebook years later. Now, her five-updates-per-day tendencies are enough to drive me up a wall. Every night my live feed contains a sampling of: “I am sooo sick! AND I have to do homework and laundry tonight, bleh!” Or, “I am so happy right now! I got done with homework early, so I get to spend the rest of my evening with my boyfriend!”
The posts are innocent enough, but when you consider that they are limited to the same three tasks (homework, being sick or seeing her boyfriend) every day, one begins to get a little annoyed. Moreover, I wonder if this girl works in an asbestos-laden lead paint factory since she gets sick so often.
This tendency annoys many people.
A few weeks ago, I was driving to my first class of the morning, and I was listening to my favorite radio station, Froggy 98. One of the morning personalities, James Pond, said his neighbor will update his status in an almost obsessive manner. Sometimes in as little as 10 minutes apart, his neighbor will inform his friends of needless information.
He even informed people when he was going to use the restroom.
Mr. Pond then raised the question, how much is too much when it comes to letting people in on your personal life via Facebook?
Callers dialed in and expressed some legitimate viewpoints regarding the issue. Some people pointed out that excessive updates give off the impression that you are lazy, a procrastinator or cannot focus on accomplishing school or work. Others expressed the notion that this neighbor guy is simply giving out too much information, or as some people shorthand in their status updates, “TMI.”
Most would agree that informing others via social networking sites that “Joshua D. Loomis is taking a piss” is completely inappropriate, but there are always those needles in the haystack that find that yearning for a bathroom break important to share. For some, logging in and updating statuses has become habit, like getting dressed or brushing and flossing. I admit, I am guilty of this in a lot of respects, as I log on nearly every day.
Perhaps one could reason that my complaints toward worthless updates are unwarranted, because I am online so much that I always read them. Like the redneck quotation “If yew don’ like Amerca, yew can git out!”
Couldn’t I just stop getting on Facebook? Then, I would no longer be perturbed by preposterous postings.
But much like “Amerca,” Facebook is a population of many ages and backgrounds, and everything goes a little more smoothly when basic rules are abided. Given that Facebook is another medium for freedom of speech, it is legally acceptable to complain about homework every night, even though every college student goes through the same pain and suffering. Unfortunately, it is also OK to tell people that last night’s run to Taco Bell is now “running” through your colon and that entering the restroom 10 minutes from now is highly unadvised.
Legally acceptable? Yes. But, beware frequenters of Facebook, posts like that are why there are several online groups floating around picketing for a “do not like” button in response to your postings.
Besides, don’t clever, intermittent updates make your life seem more compelling whether or not it is? “Joshua D. Loomis wrapped his car around a light pole swerving around a gaggle of baby geese.”
OK, so that never actually happened, but you get the picture. Think posts more closely related to “textsfromlastnight.com” and less verbatim copying of your daily planner.
“Joshua D. Loomis has laundry, forestry lab homework and grocery shopping to do. Lame.” Lame indeed, but only because I felt it necessary to share with the world.
Now, if you will excuse me, “Joshua D. Loomis is getting ready to go to class – FML!”
Josh Loomis is a senior Fisheries and Wildlife major. Reach him at joshloomis@dailynebraskan.com
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