Why It's So Hard to Delete your Facebook Friends

Hey! Look at me! I'm at the beach! Yeah yeah!

I was reading an article the other day about Facebook and how artificial it is. Everyone's life is perfect and people are always trying to one up each other. You feel like the people who aren't posting have crappy lives and are secretly spying on you, wishing their lives were as cool as your own. The guy in the article said he went from 600 plus friends, to just 50 friends. He kept people he actually knew and spoke to.

Before I read that article, I was sitting at about 250 something friends. Not nearly as much as his 600 (I don't even think I know 600 people, much less have them on my Facebook), but I thought it was time for a Facebook cleanse. I post a lot. Like, a lot. Probably close to 4-7 times a week. That's plenty considering I'm no longer in my 20s posting every single thing that happens in my life. But I love taking pictures and I love George Takei and I love Mashable articles. Plus I'm in communications which means I'm on Facebook ALL day. So I'm constantly reading junk. All day.

Creeper

 

But every now and then, I'll post a photo of myself. Or I'll check into a place if it's the first time I've been there. Every now and then, I get someone liking my photo that I've literally not spoken to since high school. Which is around the same time Buffy was in high school, and if you don't get that reference, you clearly didn't go to high school in the 90s. So there's a bit of a creep factor, especially when I didn't really speak to so and so during the time we knew each other. So basically, they friended me and I was too afraid to click ignore.

As I was scrolling through my list, there were these people who I don't speak to in real life, that I would have deleted, but I found myself being worried about their feelings. Deleting a friend off of Facebook is like saying, I HATE YOU. Well, not really, but speaking from experience, it sometimes feels that way. Some of these people I was considering to delete don't even live on the same continent as me. I will never ever bump into these people randomly to have that awkward conversation about why I chose to delete them from my friend list. They don't have my email address. They don't have my number. They have no other way of contacting me.

Shut Up and Delete Them Already!

So why was I so hesitant to delete them? Do I really care about what these people think?

I'm guilty of food porn. But which of my 250 friends actually care?

And that my friends, is the problem with Facebook. I DO care about what these people think. As a person who's invested so much time on the social network, it's so hard to break up with these people. So instead, I found myself deleting people who are never on Facebook and who I never speak to ON Facebook. It was easier to press the delete when I knew they probably wouldn't notice any ways. And really, if you are logging on everyday and not making yourselves known, that's just creepy Facebook behaviour. I'd at least like to know who might be seeing the photo I posted yesterday. I nearly forgot I had some of these people on my friend list.

I shaved off about 20 people from my list. Not a lot, but maybe I'll go back and it'll get easier. Do I really need the person I used to work with for a few months in that temp job I had 8 years ago seeing my posts? No. But they were such nice people. Danget. There I go again.

Dog Adoption Woes

I've been looking into adopting a dog recently. I always thought that a rescue dog would be an awesome idea. Who wouldn't want to help a pup in need of a home? So I've been looking into a few rescue agencies...and man. It's like pulling teeth. I understand the need to place a dog into a loving home that's not going to turn around and breed the dog to death or mistreat it in any way. But for serious?? I feel like I'm being judged...and not in a good way. I answered all of their billions of questions honestly on their application forms as best I could. Then I answered their questions again when they called my house for a phone interview. I thought, do they think I'm adopting a baby? It's a dog, people.

No Means You're A Horrible Human Being

I made the mistake of answering, "no" to one of their questions during the phone interview. And really, I have no idea what the hell the question was, but she was recording what I was saying and my "no" answer seemed to take very long on the keyboard (I could hear her key strokes). That's when I thought...they think I'd be a bad dog owner.

I had a dog for 17 years. And don't get me wrong, he was my baby. He was spoiled rotten and I took very good care of him. We went for walks everyday. I brushed him. I gave him treats. I gave him doggie massages when I knew his body was sore from old age. We were forced to put him down when his little body began to shut down and he was in pain. I'd never let that dog suffer and I know I did the right thing.

They ask you if you've ever had to put a pet down and it's like you've committed murder or something. I can't imagine EVER giving up on a dog when they're old or giving it away if I got sick of it. I really think this is what they think I'd do.

You Sound Great...But....

I just got another email back from another rescue organization. They said no to me adopting one of their puppies (who's quite young at 2 months) because I work. Um...don't most people work? And I'm working part-time at 3 days a week. I thought this was a perfect time to get a new dog. Being on such a light work schedule, I'd be able to spend a lot of time with my new dog. I was envisioning day adventures walking around the bike paths. Going to the park and teaching the dog to fetch. Teaching him that the backyard is an awesome place to go pee (and not my floors). I thought I'd come home on lunch and let the pup out to go to the bathroom. I was even considering a doggie daycare because I heard that little pups need more attention (and can't hold their pee all day long).

I told this organization this and they still said no. They want someone who will be with the dog all day. I was asked if I'd leave my baby alone all day. Um...no. My dog was left alone when I worked 5 days a week and he survived. We left out plenty of food and water for him. We made sure his toys were out. And we made sure to walk him and play with him when we were home. How realistic is what they're asking? Who can stay home all day with a dog nowadays? Are these organizations only giving dogs away to childless house wives (they said no to having kids under 5 in the home too)?

Puppy Mills Are EVIL!!

So my main concern is there are dogs out there who need loving homes...and people like me are getting rejected. This is why people get dogs off of Kijiji...and we all know Kijiji dogs, although very easy to get, are coming from puppy mills. And I freaking HATE puppy mills. I just want a dog to adopt from a rescue who needs me. I'll be an awesome doggie mom. Guess I'll have to start looking into breeders...sigh.