TMI on Facebook

What started out as a social networking environment quickly snowballed into a behemoth atmosphere of chaotic activity. It seems that everyone from the girl next door to my grandma has a Facebook page. Businesses, celebrities, and even fictional characters have their own pages. I know people who create Facebook pages for their pets. As if the idea of a page for a pet by itself was not bad enough, one of my cousins updates the status on her dog's page from his point of view. I'm sorry, but I don't need to know that Sparky just spent twenty-five minutes happily grooming his nether regions.

You friended who?!

After my brother's divorce his wife and I maintained our previous friendship, both offline and on Facebook. Their children live with her and her status updates often include amusing things about them. When my brother remarried, his new wife requested that I become her friend on Facebook. Shortly after I accepted, she sent me a personal message asking why had I not yet un-friended his ex-wife? In a reply that used very small words to avoid any misunderstanding, I requested that she butt out of my personal business. Seriously, high school was over years ago and I don't have time for that kind of petty behavior.

You said what?!

Facebook is a great place to share information but some information is just too personal for a status update. If it's not something you could talk about in a professional place of business, then it should be avoided on Facebook. And although some topics seem like ones that should obviously be avoided, sadly they are not. Here are some that I suggest never talking about on Facebook, or any other public social medium.

• Alcohol consumption
• Doing drugs
• Pregnancy details
  (especially if in the delivery room while posting)
• Having sex (or, not having sex)
• Bodily fluids and bathroom habits

You think it's not fair?!

O M G the drama of Facebook. There is a Facebook status going around praising states that require drug testing for anyone who receives government assistance. When I made a comment agreeing with someone who used the status, family members replied with phrases of anger. Obviously if I agreed with my friend's status, it meant that I did not want my heroine-addicted cousin to get her monthly allotment of food stamps. Sheesh! Who knew Facebook gave people the powers to mind read. Life has enough drama queens (and kings) without Facebook giving people the ability to join into the royal family.

You want me to farm what?!

I hate Zynga games. There, I've said it! The things I hate are few and far between, and I try to refrain from using the word at all, if possible. When I first joined Facebook, a family member invited me to play FarmVille. Today, just the name of anything ending in Ville sends a visible shudder through my body and makes my skin crawl. Since initially signing up to play everything from FrontierVille to CastleVille. Is there an end in sight? No way! And as if churning out a new game every few months wasn't bad enough, the existing games introduce different factions. Now FarmVille farmers can enjoy a domestic farm, an English farm, and a seashore farm, all with their own set of animals, crops, buildings, et cetera. Et cetera. And even more Et cetera! I for one am done with the games, and since blocking Zynga-related feeds from my Facebook page enjoy a lot quieter existence.

In summary, Facebook is a great way to connect with old friends and keep in touch with long distance loved ones. However, it's all too easy to get sucked into things that turn people off, like petty drama, disgusting details, or games -- both emotional and Zynga ones. If it's gossip, or something you couldn't say aloud in a room full of people, or otherwise inappropriate, then please, for the sake of others' sanity, leave it off Facebook.

Thanks for reading!