I wouldn’t even call my Facebook page a Facepamplet page. For a start, there are no faces on it. I joined at my younger brother’s suggestion (come join the 21st Century bro!) but, having poured the soil into the window box, I never went on to plant anything. Several relatives and acquaintances friend-requested me obviously hoping for some hearty fare at my personal banquet table only to be accepted and then, rather inhospitably, presented with a limp sandwich. With no filling. And no bread. Just a small knob of butter I suppose.
I get the thing with Facebook. We know it’s about presenting to the world the you you want them to see and to believe you are, not the you you actually are. It’s copy and paste the sun and delete the clouds. It’s the graphic designer’s impression of the new desirable riverside apartments, not the reality of the grey block of flats next to the canal with no allocated parking. Of course, that’s nothing new: no one takes photos of things they would prefer to forget.
Facebook is not so much a book as a billboard for you to invite others to gaze at; a billboard photoshopped to within an inch of its frame.
I can understand why it’s done, but I couldn’t do it because I can think of few things more exhausting for me than a self-promotional running commentary of low-interest activity that tells everything and shows nothing. It would say “look at me” and, well, nothing more.
Also, I couldn’t trust myself. All the diligent curating would slip with increasing regularity. But that sure would make a more interesting read. You wouldn’t get a plain, bland, healthy piece of boneless grilled chicken from me. I’d end up seasoning it with some well-timed self-doubt and serve it with a side helping of misjudgment and disappointment:
Ray added 4 new photos – checked into Babylon Heights Hotel, CA, United States with Jay.
6 hrs . Orange County, CA, United States
“Looked better on the website actually but not too bad I suppose. You get what you pay for, and reminded myself the breakfast-inclusive deal saves a few pennies. Unexpectedly cloudy today but sun forecast for later in the week.”
Ray at Kes’ Ice Cream Parlour (Los Angeles, CA) with Jay.
1 hr. Orange County, CA, United States
“Set out for a midnight dessert rendezvous but the place had already taken last orders when we arrived at 11.30pm. We managed to pick up coffees at a petrol station on way back to hotel.”
Feel free to share this post on social media. Even Facebook. And freely comment on it without concern of what I’ll think. I won’t be reading.