Problem number one - there are too many different types and they're all focused on fabulousness
I don't even know how many there are, all I've managed is the book of face for the last seven years. My facebook life is full of sci-fi nerdom, books and the amazingly wonderful creative things I've made and the amazingly wonderful delicious things I've baked not forgetting the amazingly wonderful things I've done, places I've seen and people I've met. However I don't speak to the younger generation of my family anymore as they've moved on to other platforms and now my parents are active bookers. I do twit from time to time yet Twitter scares me - how do random people I don't know find me and like my tweets when I can barely find anyone famous I've actually heard of. Clearly there's a knack I don't have.
Problem number two - bad spelling and grammar
If I see a post riddled with bad grammar and multiple spelling mistakes my eyes start to bleed. I have to physically sit on my hands and stop myself correcting the posts as apparently this is seen as offensive. But what about my eyes? I also find it hard to believe that individuals are content with representing themselves so shoddily. Don't they have any pride? Don't they want to sound like they have a measure of education? I feel that we should be slightly concerned that 'social media' allows illiteracy to run rampant - I'm not saying that spell check is infallible but I feel sure that the tech-heads at Facebook could write a little piece of code that forces you to check your words before they allow them to be posted. Or a fine. A fine would work. I'll even police it, with glee.
Problem number three - it didn't happen it if wasn't on Facebook
I actually heard someone say that their engagement wasn't official because they hadn't put it on Facebook yet. Excuse me? I won't deny that I am quick to post when good things happen but I certainly don't need the validation of over a dozen likes before something begins to have meaning. *whistles innocently*
Problem number four - big brother is watching
Or little sister or any number of other relatives, friends, friends of friends, workmates, bosses, ex-boyfriends, hell people I don't even know. I'm finding more and more that I can't post what I really think or feel about things because I don't want the aggro that goes with trying to explain myself to my mum. Or when tragedy strikes and you just want to cry and share and vent but you can't because there are young, delicate ears listening. It makes me feel like I'm wearing a muzzle. I know someone will pipe up and say 'well maybe you shouldn't be saying it anyway' but that's not the point. I would never be needless cruel, it's not in my nature but I would like the opportunity to freely express myself.
Problem number five - seeing what I don't want to see over and over and over
Yesterday I had the 'ahem' pleasure of seeing a video of a young man with a moustache stripping off and jigging about with the smallest penis I've ever seen. Suffice to say I quickly turned it off - I mean 1) totally inappropriate 2) it was the middle of the day and all my family were present
3) eeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww. Sadly that wasn't the only unwanted image or video I came across. And considering how much rubbish fills our news feed it feels lately like I wade through detritus for longer and longer each day. I want to use social media to keep in touch with my friends and family. I am excited to see how they are doing, what they are doing and what they are planning to do and I hope they enjoy seeing what we've been up to but I don't want to waste my limited precious time.
There's no getting away from the invasiveness of social media and the massive amounts of time it takes to check all your notifications plus the dead time you spend trawling through miles and miles of updates. But I don't think social media is going anywhere, in fact I think it will become more and more ingrained in our daily lives. I'm sure I've missed other problems and I definitely haven't looked at the positives - of which there are many - but one last thing I will share. Have a day off. We have no technology Thursday evenings - usually - it is hard to put down that laptop/phone/ipad but we do try. It's refreshing. There are books and music and *gasp* conversation. It's a whole new old world.
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