The other day I was perusing Facebook when I saw a few of my friends post some political rants I didn’t agree with. Normally this isn’t a big deal, because when I’m offended by what they say or would just, you know, appreciate not seeing that on my newsfeed, I hide the person. I hide their updates, but remain friends with them and go along my merry way.
But when the next update that rolled along was a friend of mine complaining that her friends “post too many pictures of their kids,” I was a little flabbergasted.
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I know, I know. Who would’ve thought 10 years ago that social media would become such a source of contention? (No one, unless you are a computer genius who already knew about social media OR a psychic. And if the latter is true, can we chat about some lottery numbers? Hit me up on Facebook!)
Anyway, the status in question (because we need to get all Law & Order about this) really rubbed me the wrong way. She went on to write that it was “exhausting” seeing picture after picture of kids in the bathtub, kids carving pumpkins and kids asleep on the couch. “In the old days, you had a few pictures to show your friends when they came over to visit. Now, we are subjected to 15 pictorial updates on each kid per day. Forcing someone to look at pictures of your kid licking the cake batter spoon is exhausting and is making me really aggravated. Do you really have that much time on your hands that you’re making a photo album each day of your kid in the same position?”
Well! Since we’re on the subject of kids here, someone needs a NAP.
Oh, and, obviously, she has no children of her own.
No one asks if it’s OK to post 10 “duck face” pictures of you and your friends in a row.
Here’s the wonderful thing about Facebook, friends: You can control what you see. No one is forcing you to look at pictures of a 4-year-old’s birthday party. You can change that! You can hide that person! You can unfriend them! You can, shockingly enough, IGNORE what you don’t like.
A lot of people commented on her status and about 90 percent of them (that’s a guess, I’m no statistician) applauded her “bravery.” “You go, girl! I don’t want to see those brats either!” read one comment. Another said, “Agreed. When did this become BabyBook?”
Facebook is full of people sharing their lives each and every day. Facebook becomes “BabyBook” when those of us with children feel like sharing our babies with our friends. Some of us are far away from family, some of us have friends that like the updates and some of us just like to share. No one asks if it’s OK to post 10 “duck face” pictures of you and your friends in a row. Instead, we just hide you from our newsfeed so we don’t have to see what we don’t want. You can do that, too!
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Tolerance still has a long way to go. In a world where social media is the key to businesses, marketing, friendship and sharing, we have to be careful how much we’re willing to argue about. It’s like television. Do you turn on the TV and complain, wildly and relentlessly, about whatever it is you’re watching? No! You turn the channel!
Unless Keeping up With The Kardashians is on. You should always watch that and yell at the TV.
Do you care if people think you post too many baby pictures? What would you say if someone told you your sharing was “exhausting”?
