“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
While you’re pondering that philosophical mind bender, answer this:
“If I’m not on Facebook, am I missing out on much?”
My parenting co-blogger Stephanie just posted a piece on how the popular social media platform can be a source of destruction if you don’t exercise prudence while communicating in the virtual world made up of real-life friends and family.
Interestingly, while reading Stephanie’s blog I discovered that her teenage son and I share a common bond. Neither one of us has been sucked into the Facebook vortex.
Go us!
We’re a dying breed.
And by dying I mean living… drama-free lives.
I have enough chaos to deal with in real life without having to open myself up to a web-based world of TMI, violations of social media etiquette and all the other Facebook-related kvetching that goes on in cyberspace.
Oh my, the complaining.
I’m not even on Facebook and I am forced to listen to incessant griping from other parents who willingly submerge themselves in the sadistic social media mania.
Stephanie touches on the slippery slope of parents sharing too many personal details of their children’s lives online. Meanwhile, other Facebook fanatics are not shy at all about attacking moms and dads who use photos of their children as their profile pictures. Apparently, this is a no-no in Facebookland. Even if your kid looks just like you when you were two years old, it’s unlikely that your co-workers or bosses will notice the resemblance, and therefore they will be turned off by your social media gaffe.
Personally, I don’t think posting an image of your child as your profile picture is such a heinous Facebook crime when you compare it to more grievous offenses.
For example, consider the horrendous Facebook exploits of disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner. The New York politician’s sexting obsession led to his career demise. While we all know about his Twittered weiner shot, it wasn’t until recently that the world discovered that the Democrat and soon-to-be father used a picture of his young niece as his Facebook chat avatar.
Which begets the complaints from Facebook fans about tagging… which begets my relief that I am not a user, because honestly, I don’t think I am missing out on much.