Top 10 Facebook and social media pet peeves

Here are some things I am noticing a lot of lately as I am looking at Facebook have been getting to me, and I am going to vent about them, because I am becoming a grumpy old man.

A common theme you will see is what I think the purpose of social media should be... Discourse and interaction with each other. A lot of these pet peeves go counter to that.

I apologize if I offend anyone. I may personally be guilty of many of these, but these are just some bad habits all of us get into.

I couldn't narrow the list down to just 10, so here are some honorable mentions:

• The "Feet on the Beach/pool deck" photo: So overused and cliched, not to mention the fact that feet are ugly. Take a picture of the ocean or your kids.
• SomeeCards: About one in 100 of these are funny and/or witty.
• Dumb "brain teasers" like "Think of a dog's name without the letter 'A' in it": 95 of 100 people will get this wrong!
• Time-wasting quizzes like "What Disney character are you?" 
• Outright scams, like the Disney World ticket giveaway, $70 off a $75 purchase at Kohl's, and the ever-popular "Bill Gates is giving away money" scam, which still pops up every few months. Please use common sense, and Snopes if necessary. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Also, clicking on these links will often spread malware and do funny things to your Facebook account.
• "Facebook is changing their privacy laws! Don't let them share your pictures, etc." Obviously, a hoax.
• People who pimp their business on their Facebook account. Please use a separate account for that.

Now, for the real list.

10. "Copy and Paste" chain status updates:

Example:

A baby born after a miscarriage or loss of a baby is referred to as a Rainbow baby. I am forever grateful for beautiful rainbow babies of Family and Friends. Today we remember all babies born sleeping, the ones we've carried but never met, those we've held but couldn't take home, the ones that came home but didn't stay. Make this your status if you or someone you know has suffered the loss of a baby. The majority won't do it, because miscarriage, still birth and SIDs is still a taboo subject. Break the silence. In loving memory of all the angels too perfect for earth. 93 percent of people won't share this because they are heartless assholes.
If you care about this issue more than everyone else, hold finger down and copy and paste, do not share (heart characters, for god's sake, don't forget the hearts).

These can be for anything like cancer, AIDS, people eaten by dragons, you name it. Many of these, like this one, make a pathetic attempt to tug at the heartstrings.

First of all, who comes up with this crap? This one is poorly written, and I left it mostly unchanged (I added a couple of sentences for dramatic effect) to point out grammatical errors. I understand why people share this stuff, but if you really do care about rainbow babies, write something original, and ask if people have any stories to share about the subject. Again, social media is about generating discussion, not regurgitating what someone else has said.

At best, these are just nuisances that are harmless aside from the fact that they eat up bandwidth. However, some of these can be fraudulent, like the "paste this and you will get $20" messages. I even saw one saying you could win a Range Rover. Many of these are clickbait to spread malware or are phishing attempts.

9. Incorrectly attributed quotes:

Here are some fake quotes from Adolf Hitler, thanks to the gun lobby, who, once again, wants to scare people into voting for pro-gun laws and candidates. The one on the right is even rife with grammatical errors. There have also been many pearls of wisdom supposedly dropped by the late George Carlin, many of which are also fake. All I can say here is do a little bit of research before you drop one of these on to your Facebook status.

8. Inappropriately crude and sexist posts:

I might be okay with it if the joke is actually funny. The one above is not.

7. People who only post memes and share other posts:

If you see something funny or worth sharing, by all means, do it. But you should not make every single post something shared. Again, Facebook is all about discussion and discourse, so come up with your own stuff.

6. Selfie-happy people:

Again, if you just got a new haircut or something, that's okay. It's the people who put a selfie on their wall every day. This is almost always an obvious sign of narcissistic personality disorder. I even saw one person, who is no longer a friend, get a nose stud, and she made sure that side of her face was towards the camera, but didn't mention it, practically baiting someone to say, "Ooh, I love your new nose stud!" Needless to say, some idiot did just that.

5. Status updates for mundane things, and the ever-popular exercise brag:

Example: I ran 3.45 miles today and burned 800 calories. Yay me! (map included)

No one wants to hear about your trip to Walmart or Home Depot. If you go to the movies, at least tell us what you thought of the movie. Then there is the exercise brag. If it is a major accomplishment like running your first 5k or exercising for the first time after an injury, post away. But I am sick of seeing someone's morning run documented on Facebook on a daily basis.

4. Fake car news/clickbait sites:

This site, along with some others like Crow.com, are pure clickbait. They often have a picture of a crazy looking concept car, but when you click on the story, you go to a boring, useless story about 2016 Cadillacs. You will see no sign of the car pictured, because it is a 2011 concept car called the Ciel, and is not for sale. Supposedly the morons who create these sites make money every time some sucker clicks on the story. Somehow, Facebook allows this crap.

3. "Like and share if you agree" political memes:

You've seen these before. I have to admit, this one pictured gave me a chuckle. Other examples are "Obama should be impeached. Like and share if you agree." "Hillary should go to prison. Like and share if you agree." "Obama and Hillary want to abolish the Second Amendment. Like and share if you agree." Most of these come from Trump supporters, and the nationalist alt-right wing of the Republican Party, who are afraid of Muslims, gays, immigrants, and pretty much anyone who isn't a heterosexual white Christian male. Many of these are one-sentence thoughts with no explanation why Obama should be impeached, why a Muppet is better qualified to be president than someone with decades of political experience, or why the Democrats want to abolish the Second Amendment (By the way, they won't and they can't). This is because many Trump supporters, not to mention the candidate himself, have trouble expressing themselves in thoughts longer than one sentence. Instead of sharing 12 of these every day, please provide some explanation why this makes sense, or share an article supporting your point of view (which is likely from Fox News, Breitbart or NewsMax).

2. Anonymously bad-mouthing someone, or having an argument for all to see on Facebook:

Example: "Apparently someone forgot what true friendship means."

If you want me to defriend you, here is the easiest way to do it. We are all definitely capable of pissing each other off, but posting a comment clearly directed at one person is not the way to solve your problems. Airing your thoughts to the Facebook world instead of communicating, or even ignoring each other for a short time, is not productive. I have also experienced the breakup of two people because they put the whole thing, publically, on Facebook. Trust me, no one wants to know, and no one cares.

1. Vague-booking:

Example: "OMG, I am having such a bad day."

Here is another sign of narcissistic personality disorder. These posts practically beg people to respond "Oh no, what's wrong," and some idiot always does. The poster then usually responds, "I don't want to talk about it." Instead of airing problems on Facebook, they should see a therapist. This is not an insult, but a suggestion.