
Though I am not a big poster on Facebook, I do use the site to keep up with friends, see how they are doing, put up pictures when something significant happens in my (our family) life. Keep people posted. Those with too much time on their hands have other ideas about what to place on Facebook.
Rather than occasionally posting or putting some thought into what they put online, some people randomly post and post and post and post. You wonder what’s so important about those posts and why they feel a need to put certain things online for others to peruse.
Let’s take an example. One guy I know lets everyone know where he’s traveling. He clicks to show his location – an airport, restaurant or train station, whatever. Like we care. Maybe burglars care and can follow his account then check to see if his house is deserted so they can rob him. I don’t want to know you are traveling or eating out. Drop it, please.
Another guy is the political poster. He puts up item after item disparaging a politician or a party. Over and over and over, the memes, pictures, links attack someone. It’s old, it’s boring, please stop.
You can tell another person has too much time on his hands because he repeatedly pulls up comics and puts them out there for us disinterested people to read and wonder what the heck the point is that he’s trying to make. When something is too esoteric and convoluted, why choose to share that? You have too much time on your hands. We don’t care.
Another guy is the resident foodie. You probably find them on your feed, too. They take pictures of food that always looks delectable.
The recipe is included. Sometimes there’s even a video to demonstrate in fast forward speed how to put the dish together and make it appear like it is the tastiest dish you’ve ever had in your life. I don’t deny that many of these look wonderful and sometimes find myself salivating, but hey, don’t you have something better to do with your time? I guess not.
Then, of course, there’s the guy (and, oddly enough, all of this people are “men”; perhaps women aren’t allowed on the list of “bored” people) who loves his music so much that he must share all his favorite albums and songs. This sub-genre spins in many directions.
He may post a song. He may post his top ten albums of all-time once a week until you go glassy-eyed. When done, he finds new ways to inundate you with his music choices and knowledge, none of which you care about.
I know, I know, there is a quick and easy solution: don’t go on Facebook. Turn it off. I agree. Still, there are good friends I have there and many interesting and worthwhile posts that engage me.
So, you hit the site, scroll quickly, delete and hide certain posts, sometimes unfriend someone, and yawn repeatedly, as the boring cream-of-wheat content whips past your eyes. My advice to those who spend so much time thinking we care about repetitious information is this: go outside, chop wood, work up a sweat, go hunting, find a new fishing hole, plant a garden, walk the dog, build a chair in your garage, read a book, take up a new hobby. That will keep you off social media for bit and maybe help create some interesting content for your next post.