Last week I opened my Facebook and scrolled merrily through the homepage. I noticed one “friend,” let’s call himMr. Inappropriate Emotional Outburst, had changed his relationship status from In A Relationship to Single. The horrible red heart added that extra sting for effect.
I winced in embarassment. But then it got worse.
He updated his status to: F*CK YOU!!!
Yikes, now he really had my attention. I click on his page and find a wall post by a dangerous-looking blonde that read: “I’m sorry…I will always love you.” His comment below? Yup. You guessed it. “F*CK YOU!”
So we know this person is hurting, heart broken. His girlfriend most likely cheated on him. But the MORE important question is should I know this about this person that I met twice? How much of our lives, pride and secrets are we willing to give to our “audience.”
Facebook, Twitter, et al have given us the ability to play out our fame whore fantasies and it’s gotten abusive. We assume people care what we do, what we say, what we eat. To be fair, some people do. But sadly most do not. The fact is your Facebook is not US Weekly and you are not Brangelina. Lock it up.
If there is anything to keep close to the chest it’s your relationships. Honor them and yourself. When these moments arise go out to your real friends. You know the ones you can call on the phone or physically meet up with. Do not go out to your 1,000+ Facebook “friends” for symphathy because it will undoubtly become gossip fodder. (Example this article.)
“Stay cool and keep it classy.”
