In our virtual world of facebook, instagram, twitter, snapchat etc. we have more “contact” with friends, family and our cyber peeps, many whom we have never met. Lots of time is spent being a voyeur into the lives of strangers, remote acquaintances and friensmies. We spend time peeking into secret worlds, wondering how our life compares, are we as happy as they are? Most of us present our best “self” on line, including moi…the bad hair days tend to not make it on my feed, nor the pics that we all have when caught in mid speech or chewing…not cute. It’s human nature to want to “see” what others are doing, to snoop on an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfirend’s page, check out their comings and goings.
Between my blog and my business my “friend” list has grown. I don’t know all the mechanics of facebook, for example how which friends show up on my newsfeed, or how I can google something, usually a shoe of some sort and the next thing I know that item shows up on my feed in a sponsored post. I accept most friend requests, especially if I have mutual friends in common. You meet people and quickly add them to your facebook tribe routinely. I have a few facebook friends that I have even met in person. One was a woman named “Gervel” who lives in Maryland, she saw my status update when I was in Maryland this particular day, “Gervel” messaged me and we met and had a lovely time exchanging stories about how we both ended up with the same odd name.
I’ve become close with a few of my facebook friends, sort of a connection like a “penpal” those of you that are old enough might remember those. In this world where we have so many “friends”, what happens when someone DELETES you? How do you feel? Or does it matter, especially if it is someone you don’t know. Or maybe the connection is so remote you may not even know your were deleted. But what if it is someone you know? You may feel hurt, especially if the person is someone in your social circles.
It has happened to me on a few occasions, and I must admit it is an odd feeling, not hurt per se, because someone you really know would probably have a chat with you if there was some conflict. It’s one of those things, where you figure, that a person had an adverse feeling about you that moved them to press “DELETE”. Maybe it was a post, or perhaps you have a religious or political stance that rubbed them the wrong way. Or maybe they just decided “enough of you” delete! Whatever the reason for the omission, life keeps moving forward and it is a reminder to make time for real “face” time with friends and family, don’t let social media replace real visits, there something different about looking into someone eyes seeing their smile and having a conversation.
Happy Monday,
Xoxo,
Gigi
self portrait #3
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