Some might call it a double standard. I call it behaving appropriately according to the environment. So, of course I communicate a little differently with people on Facebook than in real life.
And, I do not deal in exactly the same way with everybody on Facebook. I draw a sharp distinction between people I know in real life and people I don’t. Sometimes I respond snarkily before looking and then someone I know might get a more acerbic post than I would probably make in their presence (Yeah, Mick, that’s you). But not very often. The cute animal people, the food photographers, and the people who post a gazillion photos of their vacation I generally leave alone, except maybe an occasional ‘That looks good’ or ‘How lovely.’
I generally only send birthday greetings to people I know, but I am a bit more generous with the congratulations, because I like to see the little balloons go up.
There have only been a couple of times I have unfriended somebody I know in real life, but just Facebook friends? It doesn’t take much.
I unfriended somebody today, and it was probably an over-reaction, but that’s O.K. My page is too crowded. The issue was Indian (excuse me, Native American) affairs, and he was on about ‘the worst kind of racist’ which is apparently a white person who doesn’t know much about Native American culture or the issues. I was feeling argumentative, so I said “No, the worst kind of racist is the kind who wants to kill people from another race.” So, now I was the worst kind of racist, and horribly ignorant, and shouldn’t be allowed to vote, etc…
So, the argumentative feeling having passed, I just deleted him. He was kind of a one trick pony anyway.
Levels of Communication
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