The title of this post of rather unleading. Facebook is not my problem here, rather the people who use it.
Each evening, sometimes after a stressful day at work, I like to return to my humble abode and chill out. Perhaps my most common way of doing so is by scanning Facebook for the latest gossip from back home. I like to read the posts of my friends, look at their photographs and experience an overall delight in having some sort of contact with them. Of course we Skype and text a lot but looking at these photographs can almost transport me there.
As my faithful readers may already know, I have been living in Berlin these past eighteen months and sometimes I feel lonely. During these bouts of lonliness and indeed self-pity, I like to reflect on how horrible it was that I had to leave home because of the lousy ecomony and even though I have moved to Germany and landed myself a job, I am still not rich so therefore my life sucks. Sigh.
Yes, I know that there are millions of others out there who live in much worse circumstances than myself, leading exactly to my point. After a hard day (or not), when all the evening holds is hours of self-pity, I do not like to be reminded of the people out there who are worse off than me. In fact, even those times when I feel on top of the world, I often do not want to be reminded of the less fortunate.
A simple request you might assume. Well you asssumed wrong. Instead my should-be-a-happy-place-Facebook-timeline gets clogged with malnurished dogs, babies dying, fathers who had to leave their familes to go to way, etc., etc., etc.
Before anybody tries to drive a stake through my heart, let it be known that I do feel for these people. Clearly they are experiecing hardships I hope I never have to endure. However, it must also be made clear to you that me ‘liking’ such pictures will not do any good, and if I scroll past without liking or commenting, I will not dye a terrible death (unless you do insist on coming at me with that stake). If you want to help a certain cause then go volunteer with them, or go make a donantion to a charity. Give the rest of us who are trying to relax at least one place to escape from the terrors of the world!
Joyful Antidotes 