No I don’t mean this kind of Facebook paranoia….
I mean this kind…..
Facebook Paranoia = When someone posts a questionable status update (usually heading toward somewhere this side of nasty)……
And everyone’s little seed of social doubt, (you know the one that you usually suppress with awkward laughter), takes hold of them amidst the silent glow of their computer screens,….
And they find themselves suddenly wondering whether or not that person’s status up date, was in any way, due to, or about them?
Warning…..This form of paranoia can strike over the simplest of status up dates. For example, a status update such as this….
Can leave one wondering just whose face the person posting the update actually wishes to walk all over?
Is it your face?
Have you said or done anything lately to that person that could be misconstrued as mean or hurtful?
Ah… Questions…. Questions…. Questions……
And that’s just over the innocent stuff.
Then of course, there are those less than subtle status updates, no doubt designed to be funny, yet somehow they seem to leave everyone wondering just who the updater was referring too when they clicked ” post”. Take this little gem for example….
Do updates like these ever leave you wondering whether or not there’s some kind of Facebook conspiracy against you being played out by all of your Facebook friends that you are unaware of?
When they post (funny/nasty) status updates, are they really posting in a code about you in a way that you don’t recognize?
Yet again those pesky questions arise to fill the air above us.
Then of course there are those updates that simply leave just about every Facebook user laughing at the statements they contain, whilst being bitten by the reality behind the context of their words.
I’m sure by now you’re starting to get some idea as to how status posts, even ones that aren’t aimed at you, hold the potential to cause, even those with no reason for doubting themselves, concern (aka paranoid thinking).
And if you think it’s already hard enough for regular people to make sense of the endless supply of illogical status updates, then try being an Aspie, (a person who finds it hard to read and understand social cues) attempting to make sense of such bizarre status updates…….
So why is it, do you think, that despite all of this paranoia, the use of Facebook continues to escalate?
Is Facebook actually doing any of us any good or is just becoming another form of insidious addiction, complete with its own form of paranoid inducing delusions?
Facebook…. Are you for it….. Or Against it ….. Or just as confused by it as I occasionally am?
Related articles
- Paranoia and Poetry (hodgepodgejellybrain.wordpress.com)
- Paranoia (borderlionblog.wordpress.com)
- 10 slight differences between paranoia and writing (bekindrewrite.com)
- New Facebook Status Updates Can Include Movies, Books, Music & More [Updates] (makeuseof.com)
- Will Facebook Start Nagging You To Post Status Updates? (ohgizmo.com)
- A Lifetime Of Status Updates (dish.andrewsullivan.com)
I use facebook. I don’t think other people’s statuses are about me anymore as I don’t interact with many people either in the real world or in the cyber world. There are just a few that I do.
Thank you for your comment Alastair. I’m usually pretty OK with it too, but, I have to admit that every now and then, I do genuinely find myself wondering just what particular status updates really meant to the person posting them. Especially when the updates appear generic yet carry a nasty message.
Yeah the ones that usually get me are the “I’m getting rid of people” so fir a couple of days afterwards I have to check that they are still on my list
I completely understand that feeling. I prefer the ones that say ‘I’ve just tidied up my facebook friends list, so if you’re reading this post, you’re still on it’. Much easier for all concerned.
Yeah. I like that one
I had to chuckle at this – I think as long as you know who you are / are not, what you do & don’t do – it doesn’t matter what someone’s coded status means. Well – at least that’s how I treat life in general. Otherwise – what people say can cause undo stress.
PeAce!
Social media makes it harder because you don’t have either non-verbal or context cues to work with. I can empathize with the ‘paranoia’. But I have to also really wonder what the poster gains by putting up a status of that kind.