identiconarts

[Penned to the tune of "Cruel To Be Kind" by Nick Lowe on Riviera Global Record Prod. Ltd - Don't ask!]

Just when I thought I had found an effective way to deal with cold-callers selling debt/loan schemes or asking me if I wanted free calls or whatever (my way of dealing with them is to simply yell ‘Hello?’ down the phone repeatedly whilst tapping the receiver as if it’s a bad connection and I can’t hear them. They soon get frustrated and hang up), life then sends me something else. No sooner have I waved off these pests, then another begins bombarding me in the form of requests from friends, acquaintances, and who-the-f—k-are-you? Gob-shites from way back when – who literally wouldn’t give me the time of day at the time, but who now think I’m their BFF (yeah, TTYN!) – to go on Facebook.

NOPE!! Not interested. You’ll not find me partaking of the delights of that website any time soon.

Look, I’m not against social networking sites, but the thing is, the same people that are requesting me to go on 2-Facedbook, are the very same ones I see complaining about having to block certain people and being hit-up by cretins they hardly knew, were bullied by or just simply loathed when they were in their company. So I ask you; why? It’s like people are just collecting friends the same way they do other junk. I’m not saying cultivating friendships is bad, just that collecting profiles of people you don’t like and then referring to them as friends, is. It’s like displaying your junk e-mail inbox just to show how popular you are. What’s the point?

Yes, I am aware of the great connections that can be made, and I’m sure for a lot of people the pros out-weigh the cons. But I’m still not convinced, it’s just not my thing, and I don’t feel I’m missing out by not being a part of it. It’s like Big Brother for social net-workers, and I’m not into that either. Besides that, I’ve too much creative stuff to be getting on with that’s more fun, fulfilling and will be of more benefit in the long run. I think if it didn’t seem to make digital vegetables out of some people’s brain cells and faculties who seem to be getting into it because – dare I say it – everyone’s talking about it, I might be tempted.

The latest example of it taking people’s commonsense hostage – which by the way is the most uncommon thing in the world – took place this morning. There’s an acquaintance that I often see taking her daughter to school in the mornings and who either smiles at me or says ‘hello’. I saw her again this morning and she had ample time to talk to me, but didn’t. About an hour later, I got a text from her saying “We should catch up. Are you on Facebook?”
… I’ll say no more.