Keep it to Yourself…

So Facebook, where to start… you were rather entertaining and interesting at first, but now it has become more of a chore using you. Friends are good, but the over sharing of information is not. I mean, seeing their birthday or vacation pictures once in a while was good, a neat way to say hi and other pleasantries. But when they tend to go overboard by uploading pictures every alternate week, raking up enthusiasm for them can be draining. By friends I really mean acquaintances, those people you wouldn’t even be in touch with if it weren’t for Facebook. The real friends (who help me stay sane) are no problem… they are pretty cool and like minded, they know the value of privacy. We too upload pictures from time to time, but every album has a privacy setting, that enables only family, cousins and really close friends to access the pictures. Isn’t that how it should be, instead of unleashing a torrent of pictures onto every Tom, Dick and Harry’s wall. And then you are caught in a struggle of liking unnecessary pictures out of a displaced sense of niceness. We weren’t that close in the first place to begin with, and I really don’t want to know what latitudes and  longitudes you’ve crossed, cause quite frankly your attitude says it all. You’re probably starving for attention or appreciation, I don’t know what… but the deluge of information is not cool. Anyway, it is your account, you can do whatever you want with it. I guess in a way I should thank you, for making me use FB sparingly. 

Another aspect of facebook that I find unnerving, are the celebrities. The way they constantly jabber on and on about their songs and plead for votes to make it number one is pathetic. I know it’s probably their PR handling all their social networking accounts, but still, it’s degrading. If you know you are a good artist, just do your bit and we will listen. I listen to you because you are good, and by the time I start crushing on you, everything comes crashing down when I follow you on FB. You do sound better when you croon and smile and strum your guitar, not when you constantly tell us to click links and vote for you. And there is the other kind ,who handle their own accounts and constantly update it with every little information about their life. “Sitting at home, sipping wine and playing with my dog… ah, being home is bliss!” Is it really? And then the famous husband and wife duo who are both stars and have hectic schedules, sending out stuff like, ‘I’m coming home honey, the weekend is ours. Daddy likey…’ Thousands of people liking this and commenting about how they seem so down to earth and in love, inspite of being celebrities, celebrities I used to like… well, not anymore. 

There was a time I used to religiously follow the tour schedules of country singers in the hope that my sister and cousins, could catch a country concert. But when they promised to see Jake Owen and didn’t book tickets on time cause they thought: ‘it’s a country concert, of course we’ll get tickets on the last day too’ (Jude, looking at you, bro) and when another cousin swears that he did see Jake Owen and proceeded to send a googled picture of Jake (Saj, looking at you, bro), I gave up on that too. There are times when I log into FB just to see people’s reactions to a CSK win or an unexpected event in the city. Being half in love with Dhoni, I like all the yellow pride that goes around when CSK plays. 

Anyway, whenever the onslaught of  information becomes too much or when people tend to over share .. these words by Kacey Musgraves seems appropriate ‘Keep it to Yourself’.