Falling out of love..... With FaceBook

We live in an ever changing, increasingly connected world, I live in India and rarely get homesick, i saw my best friends baby take his first steps two weeks ago, whilst none of my hometown friends made it to my wedding they all saw it almost immediately, I chat face to face with my sister in law and mother in law every sunday and I no longer have to wait until tuesday to find out all the celeb gossip, yet I can't help but wonder, are all these advances a good thing?

Facebook, in particular, is a really difficult one for me. A forum for morons to air their views and recruit more morons to their spiteful causes (yes EDL I mean you) and cause angry debates to rage, yet I think it is good people at least talk about the news and have the chance to stand up for themselves, I was so proud of many of my Muslim friends during recent events for standing up for themselves and their religion.

Then we have the issue of deleting people, totes awkward, the adult equivalent of crossing someone off your party list! I don't want to hear about the mundane lives of some of the people I went to school with, we weren't friends then and probably never will be, but then what if I delete them and then bump into them in the supermarket.... Difficult. What about when someone from the office who you don't really like adds you, you don't want to be rude and ignore them but then, do I really want the office weirdo knowing where me and my husband went at the weekend?

Facebook also seems to have bred a lot of attention seeking parents, if your kid is sick, get off facebook and look after it! I don't want to see photos of your snotty child and I am pretty sure when it is old enough to operate facebook (probably about 6 in the case of a lot of my schoolmates kids) they won't thank you for plastering their snotty sleepy face all over the net. One of my best mates kids has been born with actual problems and is at hospital a lot, she doesn't go on about it! If your kid has a weird rash and you're worried I can understand it, otherwise, shut up!

At the same time I love that I can chat to people I've met all over the world at any time, but then I am a total victim of social paranoia... I uploaded a photo on my wedding night and immediately thought No!!! I am meant to be having fun! What must people think??? But my best friends weren't there and the quickest way to show everyone was sadly, FB!

We then have the "like if you agree this horrendous photo of an abused child is wrong, ignore if you are a heartless bastard" photos, I mean, really??? Why would you do that?

Another pet hate of mine is "PMA" updates..... "I had a really awful day, doing my boring job, but you know, I'm SUCH a positive person, tomorrow will be a good day, PMA!!!" Then the next day is the same, and the next, i think thats Positively Mental Attitude there.

Checking in at the hospital.... See my point about sick kids. Only acceptable if you're having a kid!

Speaking of which, baby scan photos! Why would you want everyone you've ever met seeing the contents of your womb? It's SO weird! Keep something back please people!!! People say it's the easiest way of announcing it, erm, I've heard of baby brain but surely the easiest way of announcing it is saying "I'm pregnant!"?

Candy crush. If you are that bored, read a book. If you really insist on playing it, keep me out of it!

Peoples updates about TV also grind my gears! Once upon a drunk sunday night, some unfortunate soul announced on fb he did not want to know the result of the apprentice final. Even though we weren't watching, and were in India, me and my friends knew the results pretty much as soon as Sir Alan had announced them and my good friend M Ball then informed said unfortunate individual of this.... Much hilarity for us, that sad tv addict deserved it!

I'm not too comfortable with facebook & Instagram owning my photo's and collating so much information on me either. When will this intrusiveness end?

The ever evolving world we live in has some great creations, I particularly love ibooks. Ok so i can no longer pass a book on to a friend to read but that app has saved me soooo much baggage allowance its unreal, plus I can buy a new book from my sofa, amazing! The same goes for newsstand, I can read my favourite magazines every week in India and save a few trees!

My best friend sent me a photo of a note i passed her in class 14 years ago... I loved that reminder of days gone by. What do kids do now? Whats app under their desks? They'll never be able to look back on those! Although she did send me the photo on whats app.... 

Like i said before, I really like skyping my husbands family in the states, but there are downsides to skype, you have to look decent for a start and can't sneakily have a wee (come on, we've all done it) or look away at our phones, probably at some mundane PMA/babies got a fever update....

We're also constantly connected now, everywhere has wi fi, it is so rare to have a holiday and escape the world now, which is a shame. No one sends postcards anymore, even the last one i sent was from an app! I promise this post isn't sponsored by Apple!

In the last few days my favourite author has tweeted me and the lead singer of the band I loved as a teenager did too, that would not have happened a few years ago and I think its wonderful that people in the public eye can connect to their fans. It can get out of hand though, Amanda Bynes and Charlie Sheen, I mean you! And when I was a kid the only trolls I came across were naked with neon spiky hair. 

I think the thing I find most annoying about the social media obsessed, constantly connected world we live in is that I am well and truly hooked, could I come off facebook? No. Though I have to sift through a lot of crap, I can see what my friends are up to and they can catch up on my news too. Go without twitter for a week? Absolutely not. I need my news and entertainment. Leave my iphone at home while on holiday, who does that??

I'd love to get a postcard though!