I hate Facebook


I hate Facebook.

Not the site itself but all the fun I’m missing. Last year I was devastated to read about a neighborhood party we weren’t invited to, all the pictures of people dancing and drinking, and having a really good time.

Or the vacation another friend took when I thought she was right here in Stamford, struggling through the snow like the rest of us. Or the picture showing another friend ramming into her husband in bumper cars. 

It reminds me of all the parties with the cool kids I wasn’t invited to in high school. I was quiet and mousy in those days, and didn’t smoke or drink or do anything that was even remotely cool. (It’s only now, bumping into old friends, that I’m finding out some thought I was, well, attractive.)

But that’s another column. 

I read once that people put on Facebook what they want others to think is happening in their lives.  The gourmet meals they prepare. The half-marathons they run in record time (sorry, Paul Ryan). And, of course, the straight A’s all their kids get (mine, too, but I can’t brag; he sure didn’t get it from me).

Dumb me, I post about the urinary tract infection I’m getting over, or the red light I ran when the cop was right there. 

We haven’t taken a vacation in years, so no photos there. And while I do run, I’ve never come close to a marathon, or even a half-marathon. No photos there. And meals I’ve prepared?  Believe me, you do not want to be looking at something I’ve cooked over breakfast as you skim Facebook in the morning.

I suspect what I’m feeling is jealousy.  I want to be included, too.  I also want everyone to think my life is exciting, when really, it’s just pretty average. We went out with friends for New Year’s Eve and I couldn’t wait to get home to post photos.

I guess the truth is that my life is pretty boring.  We don’t go anywhere, or do anything much worth posting. But we’re all healthy, and we love Sundays, our one day in the week together, which we spend lazing around and reading in the family room.  Not exactly the kind of thing you post on Facebook.

But you just wait.  At some point we’ll take a vacation.  And I will bore all my friends silly with my photos!

Deborah DiSesa Hirsch is an award-winning writer living in Stamford. Her blog is hotmedfax.blogspot.com.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Don't Wash Your Chicken and Other Food Safety Myths

I remember when I first heard this.  Don't wash your chicken , before you cook it?  I ignored it.  But over time, I began to realize it's true.  Washing it spreads deadly (or at least sick-making) bacteria.  Really. “You should assume that if you have chicken, you have either Salmonella or Campylobacter bacteria on it, if not both,”Dr. Jennifer Quinlan, an associate professor at Drexel University, told newswise.com.  These two bacteria, she noted, are the leading causes of food-borne illness. “If you wash it, you’re more likely to spray bacteria all over the kitchen and yourself," she said. And the rinse water you've been using? It's not hot enough to kill bacteria anyway. Washing raw poultry was a common unsafe practice in all the groups she studied for a documentary on safe cooking conditions, with some minor cultural differences in the method of washing. People are very attached to the idea of washing raw poultry, she told newswise.com. “Some think...
Read more

Need the ER? Pray Your Doc Plays Video Games

We're all so used to picking on our kids for playing video games but the next time he's in the ER, you just might be happy that doctors do it, too. According to new research, video games improve doctors' recognition and triage of severe trauma patients, newswise.com reports. Playing an adventure video game featuring a fictitious, young emergency physician treating severe trauma patients was better than text-based learning at priming real doctors to quickly recognize the patients who needed higher levels of care, according to a new trial led by the  University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine .  The results held, even though doctors assigned to the game enjoyed it less than those assigned to traditional, text-based education. This indicates that if game enjoyment can be improved, the already favorable results might be enhanced, the web site notes.  “Physicians must make decisions quickly and with incomplete information. Each year, 30,000 preventable deaths...
Read more

Take Herbal Supplements? Even Green Tea Extract Can Lead to Liver Damage

Take herbal supplements? You might want to listen up. A new study is warning that new information is showing that some supplements may damage the liver, along with over the counter drugs and even those prescribed by physicians, according to newswise.com. The rate of drug-induced liver injury (DILI), a rare adverse drug reaction which is challenging to diagnose -- and which can lead to jaundice, liver failure and even death -- is increasing more and more.  Experts put it down to the overwhelming use of herbal supplements and other drugs in the last 10 years.  “A lot of consumers have a preconceived notion that if it’s a natural product, it must be safe. But that is not necessarily the case,” the Web site quotes Herbert Bonkovsky, MD, FACG, co-author of the guidelines. “Most of these products are not well-regulated and have very little oversight. Traces of heavy metals and prescription drugs have even been found in some herbal and dietary supplements. We encourage pa...
Read more