The theme for my blogs was going to be all about the crazy things I’ve seen in apartment complexes through working with each of them. However, this week I will put that on hold. I have too many other things on my mind to try to remember a random story to try to entertain everyone.
I don’t know if it is just me, but have you ever noticed that the only time you get to see a majority of your friends are at times of grievance or times of extreme happiness? I feel like the only time I see a lot of my friends are when we are attending either a wedding or a funeral. I have only been to one friend’s wedding so far, so every year it’s just been attending friends’ funerals. Every time, I tell myself that I will make more of an effort to keep in touch with friends, not just those that are convenient to hang out with. We all get so wrapped up in school and work to not take a day and go visit friends that you don’t see on a regular basis.
This brings me to my next point. Do people honestly think that expressing sympathies on your Facebook status really helps? The heartfelt statuses don’t get to me as much. It’s the statuses like the following that really irk me: “RIP Ben. Kele, the kids, and The Meadow's family my heart goes out to you all. Taking my littlest love to IHOP. :-). “
Really? You couldn’t break it up into two statuses? One to express your sympathy and another status to talk about the happy day you will be having. I don’t see how that can make anyone feel better about losing a loved one. Also, if someone puts a status up like a RIP one, do others really feel it is appropriate to comment on it with comments like “What happened?” Describing one’s death via Facebook does not seem like the right thing to do to me. Also, to leave a comment on an RIP status that says “You want to go get lunch later?” Or “I haven’t seen you in forever! Let’s go out!” does not seem like the appropriate comment to write either, at least not in my opinion. It bugs me that all this is on my news feed and I want to just scream at people to be more tactful and more respectful.
I’m not saying at all that these people are not truly sympathetic. What I am saying is that the way technology is, is this really what our society has become? I truly do not agree with this. I understand that life must go on and we should always remember the ones that have passed on, but to me it seems disrespectful on quite a few levels. May those that have passed rest in peace, and may those that are still living be more tactful in the way they express their sympathies.
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Katherine, I see where you are coming from in a sense. Although, I have never seen anyone on Facebook have such disrespect about the deceased. First off, you say, "people"...aren’t the people that are on the newsfeed your friends, and if you don’t know them then why are you friends with them on Facebook. I recently thought of that and actually went through my friends list and got rid of anyone that I did not know or don’t talk to. I feel that everyone should do that because people talk about just having a bunch of Facebook friend but yet they don’t know or talk to any of them. And if they are your friends I say ditch them because anyone that writes some status that is that insensitive they don’t deserve to have friends.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, I do not find anything wrong with stating a RIP in a status alone. It shows sorrow of a close friend or relative. If someone puts something like that as their status they obviously want others to know, whether it would be because they want to be alone or be sympathized. The only comments that I have seen have to do with sympathizing the person of their loss. I think what your friend wrote was insensitive and wrong. Its about people etiquette even not on a place like Facebook.
It's interesting to observe how social customs translate to the digital world. I'm sure people have or are writing thesis papers and dissertations on it right now.
ReplyDeleteA medium like facebook is usually used for informal things, like catching up with friends and sharing what you are doing. And some people definitely have trouble making the transition to more serious topic on it.
First of all I am sad there is crazy apartment stories this week. I am not a big fan of that kind of facebooking expression. My facebook doesn't really let you know a whole lot about me. I get on facebook, but not everyday and I miss my friend's birthdays all the time...so what I am trying to say, I am not the most active user. I do like to use it to talk to people I don't live near or have not seen in a while.
ReplyDeleteFacebook is still kind of a strange concept for me, especially with people and their status' or whatnot. Status' can be everything from random song lyrics, movie quotes to deep philisophical thoughts or just what you are doing at the moment. I personaly can't stand it when someone floods the facebook home page with tons of status updates over the course of a day. Sometimes I get so many random facebook requests that I just want to delete mine, but then I would be anti-social. haha.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you as well! I think people are outrageous in their facebook status' as well. I can understand a movie quote or lyric but I don't want to know what people are doing every five minutes. A young man from my high shool was killed last week and eveyone was dedicating their status' to them and changing their profile pics to his picture. Some of them didn't even know him that well. I thought it was weird.
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