But the social media circus can also become irksome.
Who doesn’t tire of the faction that’s always bitching? And, I don’t get it. What do they do? Store up the day’s injustices, then rush home to throw back some dinner, stack the dishes in the dishwasher, crack open a Diet Coke and a bag of chips, and get on FB to complain—about their jobs, their dysfunctional relationships, their unending responsibilities, and how nobody appreciates all they’ve done until they’re gone? (“And, I’m leaving, Buddy. I am! I mean it this time.”) They never have a sunny day or catch a break because they reside in the Sea of Crabby, a tide you get sick of drowning in—but there’s always another tidal wave, another crisis, a final (final-final-I-mean-it-this-time-final!) letdown. But the sour posts don’t promote compassion for their “plight.” They irritate. You’d like nothing more than to bring the complainers a box of matches and help them to burn it all down—except, most of their problems stem from poor choices, so they’d be right back on the Bitching Soapbox with a new loser by the end of the week. . .*Sigh*
The only group that exhausts me worse is the quote-sharing Bliss Ninnies. I can’t breathe around them, not because they’re always-fakely-smiling but because they won’t venture an original thought—and they’d be too worried about offending somebody to post it. (Be a human, for God’s sakes. We all secretly know that you don’t fart daisies.) This isn’t the “I Started a Gratitude Journal” people, per se, but those consummate flatterers whose true opinion you doubt you’ve ever heard—or if they’ve fashioned one yet. I suspect that the Bottom Line with the Kiss-Asses is that they May Need You One Day to Do Them a Favor so they work hard to Please All of the People All of the Time. Their “opinion” is so safe and diluted it’s devoid of meaning. I tend to have an extreme reaction to their repression: it makes me want to scream obscenities to return balance to the universe. This banal group can sometimes also be the Tireless Promoters. [It’s one thing to “Trumpet your successes” but another to be on a constant campaign to “win friends and influence people.”] Besides, “niceness” should never come from fear—or low self-esteem.
Then there’s the Quiz Taker, the Recipe Maker, the Statistics Sharer, the Selfies Fanatic, the Frothing Politico, and the One Who Never “Likes” Your Posts. . .[And, who knows? Maybe I’ll return to flesh these out another time, as they are my Social Media Pet Peeves’ Types.]
A recent study claims that 85% of what we text and email is misconstrued by the receiver. That represents a lot of misunderstanding (so maybe I’m just misinterpreting how these extremes come across? Maybe.) But, if you’re anything like me, things leave an impression—or they don’t. The result is either a positive impact or a negative impression. (We gloss over what’s meh, average, mediocre.) And it’s easier to dislike quirks than to love them.