…Is Updating My Status To “It’s Complicated”

I am, admittedly, a Facebook junkie. Not that I spend endless hours of my day scouring for friends or playing the games (Farmville? Who came up with THAT time suck???), but I spend enough time on there to get myself a reputation. Most of my work friends now consider me to be the “Mayor of Facebook,” or so I’ve been called, and I find that amusing. Truth be told, I’m a status checker and that’s pretty much it. I log on FB on my phone, update my status, check YOUR status updates and then I move on. It literally takes me a minute or two and it isn’t too time consuming. I like it because I can see how all my friends are doing and I don’t have to take up too much of my day finding out how you are or what your thoughts are. However I have found that, as great as FB is for keeping track of all my friends, not all of them are who I remember them to be. Time has come and gone and people change (including myself) and it’s interesting to me too see how different people who I have known in my past are these days.

When we were friends in grade school/high school/college/post-college or whatever (not that we aren’t friends now, but lets be honest…we haven’t spoken in years), you were different. Maybe you were a free-wheeling party crasher. Or maybe you were the quiet kid sitting in the back of the room. Maybe you were the jock or the straight A student. Whatever the case may be, I find it interesting to see your posts now…some 20 years later. I find it fascinating how different we all are. Where we were heading when we were kids has now become the present and everyone has a story to tell. And many times that story is told in pieces on Facebook.

For example…religion. It’s interesting to me how many people that I have known who now profess their religious beliefs on the internet. Not that there is anything wrong with it. Quite frankly, I think the internet needs MORE religion considering the kinds of crap that pops up whenever you Google search something. But I find it interesting how many people quote biblical passages or have become faithful as the years have gone by and who isn’t afraid to say it on Facebook. I can honestly say I can check status updates once a day and see at least 5 people who have posted their love of Christ/Buddha/Yahweh in some shape or form.

I picked religion because it was the most obvious one to me with the “Repost this if you love _____” status updates that I see so often. Is it wrong that I don’t want to post that on my status page? Am I damned to hell if I don’t? I don’t know. Maybe God is a huge Facebook fan and when the time comes and I want to enter the Gates of Heaven he will look at me and say…

“You, Mr. “Mayor Of Facebook,” never once posted that you believe in me. You can go to hell now…” and POOF! The next thing I know I’m sitting on a small patch of scorched land in the middle of a lava ocean.

Or how about the drama kings & queens? I love the dirty laundry that gets aired on FB. Everything from love lost to jobs lost to angry rivalries to mismanaged time, the amount of drama is pretty dramatic on FB. I imagine I fall in this category, always whining about how little time I have and how tired I am with work and such. Even I get a little sick and tired of my “I’m sick & tired” updates!

Then there are my sports fanatic friends (The Sox lost AGAIN???), my traveling work friends (From ATL-CVG-DEN-LAG-BFE in 10 hours or less!), my friends who have regular jobs (Friday is only 4 Days, 22 hours, 23 minutes and 45 seconds away!), my friends that love to list their daily schedule (Woke up, showered, pooped, have to go to work then probably have dinner and call it a day), my friends who are going green (Conserve water! Drink alcohol!), my friends who are critics (“Glee” is the best show ever. That is all.) and the friends who like to re-post every online article they read (Washington Post reports that blah blah blah world economy blah blah blah). Sometimes it can be exhausting following all this stuff! But it’s all in good fun. I hope, as I read one update after the other, that each and every one of my friends, whether from my past, present or future, is having a good life and are simply using the mighty Facebook as an outlet to vent or get out a little frustration. Our lives are so complicated and we are all so over-extended that having a place to “air out a little angst” is not a bad thing. Truth be told, venting is therapeutic and to be able to share our frustrations with the people we assume care about us makes it all worthwhile. The thing is though…our lives are so much bigger than a single line status update. And a lot more complicated! So I try to always take it with a grain of salt…and so should you.

Today my status reads…“Alan Layton has a day of nothing to do. So…uh…hmmm…THIS is different…?

Of course this is totally NOT true. I have thousands of things I need to do. But maybe today I’ll put all that stuff away and truly just relax. Or maybe I’ll decide to make myself useful and clean out my closet. Or maybe I’ll go to a movie. Whatever I decide to do, you’ll be the first to know about it. Because I’m sure I’ll be changing my status in approximately 25 seconds…and counting…