Too much information

For some reason, people who join social networking sites seem to think it’s ok to blab about everything and anything, no matter how personal. Like that banking intern in the US who got caught lying about not being able to work because he was stupid enough to broadcast on Facebook, the party that was his real reason for not showing up to work.

This is no different to people who bare it all on their blogs I guess. Though on a social networking site, this information is broadcast to more people whom you know or allegedly know anyway, making the knowledge more relevant and potentially more harmful.

It’s like telling your group of friends and acquaintances things that they don’t necessarily want to know. The phrase “too much information” in this context is more apt than ever. The ironic thing is that some of these people who are brutally open and bold online are not necessarily like that in real life. Why do they think that the impact of what they share online is less?

Ultimately, unless I’m intimate with a person, I’m more comfortable with not knowing every single personal detail of even my closest friends. I don’t need to know, and they certainly do not need to tell. Like how everyone likes a bit of personal space, not telling someone everything is like not standing too close to them. Because you know, that’s just really uncomfortable.

On my list of Facebook “friends” are several women whom I had liked at one point or another. I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging but I never sought them out. The friend requests came from them. And in hindsight, I would have preferred that they weren’t on my list because I don’t really care what they’ve been up to.

As callous as that sounds, that’s just being honest. I mean, we weren’t friends to begin with. I liked them but they never liked me back, so that was that. I never hung around in real life pretending to be a friend after I had been rejected.

The problem with seeing their updates and photos, especially when they are to do with their love lives is information that does me no good. Sometimes it even generates a pang of jealousy in me when I had already been over them for so long.

Facebook causes unnecessary stress that way. It really does. Just like how Steph’s friend Kylie reacted to knowing about her ex’s marriage and son. It’s no wonder she calls it “Fuckedbook”.

This is one big reason that I don’t log on as often as I used to. I only go on when I know friends had posted photos of recent events, and to feed my Fluff pet (shut up). And speaking of the Fluff pet, I think I might let it starve to death soon.