Insufferable on the Internets

You may have read the Huffington Post Blog piece that is making it's way around the social media circuit titled "7 Ways to be Insufferable on Facebook." Glancing at the title quickly, I thought I may enjoy the post. Now that social media is a part of our lives, it's only natural that we develop digital pet peeves. (Mom, it is not necessary for you to sign Facebook posts.)

The thing is, those pet peeves are no one's problem but mine. The beauty of social media sites is that your feeds can be tailored to your specific interests and tastes or, novel concept, completely ignored! If you are too insecure in your own life choices to be bothered to read that your colleague from undergrad just finished his master's thesis, if you find the fact that this person feels the need to share this achievement with this friends and family so reprehensible, then un-friend the inconsiderate bastard. How dare he soil your news feed with his pompous douchery. He should be posting links to entertaining Onion articles like a decent Facebook friend.

In all seriousness, there is a right and a wrong way to talk about oneself and one's accomplishments. Some people employ appropriate tact, while others cannot help themselves from hosting their own telethon. The thing is, you have just as much control over the people you choose to spend "real" time with as you do over who makes your precious news feed. If one of your Facebook friends is constantly posting statuses that you cannot abide, you can hide their posts, remove the friendship, or even block them for all eternity from your social media bubble through which nothing you find offensive can ever penetrate.

I really did not want to go point-by-point with this piece, but a paragraph toward the end really summed up the author's holier-than-thou attitude quite beautifully: 

"And that's why insufferable Facebook behavior will never go away -- there's no dislike button or eye-roll button or middle finger button on Facebook, and it's bad form to be too much of a dick in the comments below a status. So annoying statuses are just positively reinforced, and people remain un-self-aware that they regularly bring down the quality of everyone else's life."

Oh you poor lamb (who by the way has NOT included a by-line with this blog), un-self-aware people are diminishing your quality of life? in the privacy of you own home? Well let me buy you a damn muffin and tell you about life. You know what you do in that situation? IGNORE those people and worry about YOURSELF. It is not the rest of the world's problem to change our behaviors to protect your delicate sensibilities. If people suck so much that you find it unbearable, becoming a literal and digital recluse is totally an option. Leave everyone else to enjoy their lives.

In all fairness, the author may not be availed of Facebook's many customizable settings. If you are in need of instruction, I suggest the latest edition of Facebook for Dummies (www.dummies.com). You can learn all the latest settings for tailoring your news feed to your specifications. You may even find it entertaining, if only a little self-serving.