So let's talk about stupid social networking pet peeves that I've developed. You may be thinking, "who cares about pet peeves of someone else" but given time you'll think like I do. And that is why I bring this up. It's contagious. I was in your shoes not so long ago. No more digression, let's start looking at my social networking pet peeves (SNPP).
SNPP #1: Baiting
People will post in their status or their twitter something that is actually noteworthy. It's enough to make you go "Wo! Wait a minute, something serious happened to my e-friend. What's going on?" Then you read their whole long diatribe to find out they didn't give you the key information you need to truly ascertain the severity of the situation. Your fingers twitch as you click in the reply box, intent on asking about the conveniently missing information. You start typing, and then stop. They just baited you. And you almost took it. They are fishing for e-friend comments. They are wasting your time. You have to wonder if the event even happened, or if it did how exaggerated was it made by the status post in the hopes to get a bunch of sympathy responses. I say screw that! When someone baits me now, I say "screw you" in my head and keep going. If they really wanted me to know, they wouldn't bait me.
Examples of baiting:
"I have to go to the hospital" but never saying why.
"I have to put my dog down" but not saying why.
"I was pulled over" but not saying why.
"I almost hit a customer" but not saying why.
"Some bad crap happened today while [insert_whatever] and I am very [insert_sympathy_incurring_emotional_state]" but never saying what happened
SNPP #2: The "woe is me" vs "i sniff myself" personas
Social networking is a lot like looking at the world with 3D glasses. On the one side you have the rose-tinted glass with certain people. Their life is super cheerful and happy and lucky. They have whatever they want, do whatever they want, and they are always cheerful. Their pictures show them with a shit-eating grin and it's enough to make you vomit after the first couple months. Then there is the opposite. The "woe is me" crowd is enough to make you almost de-friend them. It's like they are a spokesman for country music. They lost their dog, their house, their lover, and now god is pissing on them. The only good thing to come out of all that, is when one group recognizes the other, and go at it bashing their respective personal beliefs of the world on each other's head.
SNPP #3: The Robot
This person never posts. They setup some app to post quotes. You get 5 invites a day from them to play some e-game from them, but it's all an automated script generated response driven by the need to mass spread the social networking e-life excuse.
SNPP #4: The Vicarious Shadow
This person never posts anything about them. It's all their kids, their spouse, their co-workers, their neighbors, etc. Their avatar is surely a picture of them with other people. All they can talk about is other people. They never really share themselves with you. You may as well not have friended this person at all, but rather just friended the people they are talking about, because you really don't get a glimmer of their life.
I am sick and tired of baiting and eternally happy/sappy people. Robo-friend and Vicarious Shadows are easily fixed with the "ignore" feature. You don't realize how pissed off you are with baiting, until you find yourself trying to e-strangle the imaginary necks of people who post. If you don't feel comfortable sharing the details to important events in your life, then don't share at all.
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