please let me explain

At the risk of being offensive, I decided the time has come to state my opinions and explain my theories related to the Facebook (FB).  My behavior on the website (est. 2005) has been a little like a roller coaster ride. 

I use it.
In my altered view of being personal, I post pictures, sometimes a status, periodically a link to my blog, and I push "like" on a lot of my "friends" posts.

I don't use it.
Several times I have gone AWOL on FB.  I recognize that any amount of time spent browsing that website could most certainly be used a more productive, even happier way.  I have purposely stayed away from FB for days, for weeks, even more than a month once.

I like it.
I like FB for a lot of reasons. I like to see pictures that my family posts and I like to read funny one-liners people use as their status/captions/comments. We all know that I appreciate dry one-liners more than I appreciate a good meal.

I hate it.
I hate it because of the wildly inappropriate things people post anywhere on FB.  I especially hate it when people post things I don't like on my wall or as comments on my pictures. 

Let me loosely define "wildly inappropriate": any picture revealing parts of the body I wouldn't see at church (whether or not you just birthed a 16 pound baby), comments that twist other people's posts into something nasty (not funny, it ruins the whole post), swear words in general, personal or emergency type status (the worst way to learn about a death or a family emergency is on FB), picking a fight with one or more people by posting a comment on a wall other than your own, posting comments anywhere that you are a victim (which a licensed medical professional could track back through your own behavior) and blaming your circumstances on others, condolences,..... I'm leaving the list open because you know you've judged posts on FB as "wildly inappropriate."

I post pictures.
I have a lot of pictures on FB.  It's fun to post them and, occasionally, I want to share them with more than the 3 people reading my blog.

I don't post pictures.
I go through phases where I can literally see the walls I have built around myself.  FB + walls = unrest.  Those are the times I don't post anything.  It's probably the same theory on this blog.  I think things like:  no one cares to see this, no one cares to read this, it's no one's business that I think this, someone will judge me for this.  Wow.  I never really listed those reasons before, makes me sounds unwell. 

I stalk people.
It's true.  I'm going to vote that it's not stalking if you go through the pages of the people who have accepted you as their FB friend.  But any time I spend looking up people and reading pages of non-friends, I would dare say is FB stalking.  There were about 6 weeks where Jake was a serious victim of FB stalking even though on week 2 his page privacy changed and I could only see the same basic information.  I don't know why I kept checking for the next 4 weeks.

I vow I will never stalk again. 
During the aforementioned "6 weeks" I decided not to look at Jake's page anymore.  I'm pretty sure I never succeeded.  But I will mention I have been successful in the past.  I haven't looked up and have no desire to see the pages of previous "interests/relationships," old friends/acquaintances, and I'm really considering a person connected by blood.  It never makes me happy or feel better to see their pages.

I accept friends. 
At one time I had over 300 FB friends.  I can't deny I do enjoy FB interactions with my family and my very close friends. 

I delete friends. 
I currently have 128 FB friends, with 3 requests pending.  Many times I have thought about deleting my whole account.  That's when the whole FB + walls = unrest equation weighs heavily on my mind.  Also factor in that I go through the "don't use it" time because I know my time can be better spent elsewhere.  I would really love to interact with the FB crowd in person more than on FB.  So all of this comes down to, I delete people.  Selfishly, I do it so I can feel better about justifying the time I spend on FB.  I don't want to use it as a time waster but as a updater on the people I currently spend time with in person.  I loved 5th grade.  I loved the singles' ward.  I loved my past co-workers.  It's not personal when I don't accept them as friends on FB.  I've been deleted from a few pages myself.  It's never hurt my feelings.  In fact, it makes me laugh because I know just how that person feels.

I hate Farmville.
I seriously judged people who play any game, especially this game, on FB.  Ridiculous.

I play Farmville. 
Anne set up Farmville on my FB to grow her farm somehow.  She used it until I took it over.  I got hooked.  And until I got to a level that made it pretty difficult to continue to the next level, I played this game with strategery.

I know I have not been totally faithful to these standards.  I have made concessions and exceptions to my FB rules.  That's okay.  This is the first time I've ever seen them written out either.

I dare you to send your comments (statement of opinion, explanation, animadversion, annotation, backtalk, buzz, comeback, commentatry, crack, criticism, dictum, discussion, editorial, elucidation, exposition, footnote, gloss, hearsay, illustration, input, judgment, mention, mouthful, note, obiter, observation, opinion, remark, report, review, two-cents' worth, wisecrack) without the use of a computer or cell phone. 

Address them to: 

Paperless

Joey Hansen

1801 West 5050 South

Roy, Utah 84067