Facebook “friend”
Ryan Cordell’s article “Unfriending for Sanity” got me thinking… why in the world am I facebook friends with so many unnecessary people? I know that sounds bad, but it’s somewhat true. I’m friends with a plethora of people that I’ve only ever met once, never to talk to them again. Yet, I know what they’ve been doing with their life via status updates. Slightly creepy, no? Then there are those random people who I’ve never actually met in person but my friends are friends with them… or something of the sort. Why would they care about my life anyway?
I think it’s so difficult to turn down a request simply because they use the word “friend”, it’s like telling someone “no I don’t want to be your friend”. What an awful concept! Cordell talks about this very aspect of Facebook, saying that he accepted nearly everyone “to avoid insulting anyone or appearing aloof”.
The way I see it, there are 3 options. You can decline the random people on the spot (honestly, they probably wouldn’t even notice if you’re not that great of friends with them), accept them and face the consequences of a cluttered newsfeed, or accept them only to unfriend them later. All viable options, it just depends on how much thought you want to put into your friends list.
We’ll all learn at some point, right?
