I was never a Facebook (FB) user until The Calamities, struck, and even then, not until movies and online gambling lost their luster and some of my money. There is a FB account with my name, opened by me 8 or 9 years ago, but it was avoided for a long time after I got tired of (belatedly) apologizing to everyone wishing me Happy Birthday. FYI: I was advised to use the wrong birth date so scammers couldn’t steal my identity. Apologies, yet again, to those birthday wishers.

A year ago I returned to daily use, flush with time to waste and the excitement of tracking down old friends, and maybe making new ones. Those particular excitements met the same fate as my surgically removed, damaged hip bones when it became apparent Facebook is not what it promised to be. Most people I wanted to contact were probably already done with FB and moved on to other sites. Making new friends was impossible as others were too leery of scams and idiots to respond to “unwelcomed” or “uninvited” posts.

Now, I visit four times a week  for about 5 minutes to see if any of the “bait” sent out years ago ever gets a bite. Nancy, an old flame from 60 years ago, has a presence on FB but her bait hasn’t been taken, yet, and it was put out there from the very beginning. As an explanation of why Nancy might not have answered, my mom’s account is still there, 8 years after her death. (Typing this has reminded me to find out how to “decease” her from FB.)

In my visits, now, I am polite enough to scroll through the new comments and check all areas where FB might allow notifications of a possible happy, joyous, reunion.

While perusing, however, there is the occasional posting of bull$$$%, money scams, lunacy and other things that makes the human race so…diverse. While easily ignored, and blocked or hidden, the reposting of bull$$$%, money scams and lunacy irked the crap out of me this particular morning. It was a regurgitated re-post of an oft-debunked political story re-posted as gospel with all the attendant, politically correct adverbs, adjectives, snarkiness, and hubris marking it a biased piece of crap. I won’t identify its origin, but I will not stoop to the “everyone does it” surrender, either…next time. I had a good night’s sleep and a good breakfast, so it must have been the raging blizzard outside that inspired an ire so great I “replied” to the post. It was a logical, nonjudgmental reply remarking how re-posting on FB is a “human problem” we should all avoid until we have done our own research.

I regretted my remarks one second before I hit the send button. Unfortunately, my aged response time from thought to action is two seconds so…there it was, on FB: me, taking a stand.

The menu button called my name, begging me to block the person I’d posted to, but then,…, then I realized: FB should not be a monster terrorizing polite, sane contributors, it should be a place for free, open, and honest discussion. (I’ll pause while you giggle, laugh snort, or smack your forehead.)

Que sera, sera. I’ll check back next morning and exercise better judgement when all the replies start flowing. Hm. Maybe no one will notice? And for my own unease, I will comfort myself with the premise of a “test”, a purposeful attempt to see how bad FB (and social media) really is. (Are?)

And if you never hear from me again, check my FB account. There might be clues…