Got some pet peeves? How about a few of those annoying Facebook things?

We all have pet peeves of one sort or another. 

Yes, I have a few . . . don’t put things in the refrigerator that are still in their packaging (like 6-packs of beer or plastic-wrapped energy drinks), relax about telling people what they “should” do, please don’t preach to me about anything . . . I cringe when I see tomatoes, onions or potatoes in someone’s fridge . . . It bugs me when people sing loudly to a song playing on the radio or in a bar (they’re usually off key and not as good as the artists to whom they are listening, of course) . . . Just remember to tip well and smile lots.

Yeah, don’t be mopey and don’t screw the server.

But one of the most continually annoying pet peeve areas, if you will, in people’s lives swirls in and around Facebook. In part, no doubt because Facebook is so much a part of people’s lives. We chat, connect, bitch and moan, complain, share our trips, meals and friendships on Facebook. I like Facebook, but some of the things there are annoying.

Let’s consider the dangling, unexplained post . . .

“Feeling crappy today” . . . “Can’t believe life sometimes” . . . “Depressed and angry” . . . “How can people be so bad?” . . . “Life is just terrible.”

And that’s it . . . no follow ups or explanations about what’s going on to. You thought it important enough to post the statement, why do that and not tell is why life sucks, or why you’re depressed, angry or feeling crappy?

We want to know, and you threw out the bait . . .

“Can little Johnny who lost his cat get 1 million shares? Share his photo if you care.”

You’re saying if I’m a good person I’ll share the photo and the story and a horrible person if I don’t. Really? I do care that little Johnny lost his cat, or has cancer, or a vet gets fewer “shares” than a bikini-clad female sunbather, but if I don’t want to share the 10 million of those posts that I see every day then I won’t.

Get over it. I’m not Satan.

What about those little sayings and inspirations we see every time we sign on? There seem to be about 20 million of them . . . and I “like” and “share” them frequently. And my Facebook friends share them all the time. I like them.

One of the problems, of course comes back to that “what do you mean” thing. We share one and suddenly all our friends are wondering if we’re getting married, or dumped our partners or are about to die.

Since I’m not getting married and have already tried the nearly dying thing as well, I’m usually in the clear, but I sometimes have a habit of sharing them because I think they’re worthy (though rather one dimensional) . . . before I really think about all the ramifications of sharing them . . . so sometimes that little “share” comes up in an email or phone call . . .

“Gee, no . . . I didn’t mean you . . .”

Oy

Of course I won’t get into the fact that many of those little sayings do reflect an oversimplified picture of something that may be going on in our lives. Oh well . . . In those cases, I’ve managed to smooth over the bumps that bumped a bit too close to home.

The continual onslaught of game offers, ads and targeted sidebar ads is also annoying . . . though I do understand the need to pay for what to us is a freebie social network. It’s just kind of creepy having an L.L. Bean ad pop up an hour after I bought a shirt.

I’ll also cop to getting peeved by people who seem to get all their news and information off Facebook, as apparently many people do. It’s Facebook, folks . . . The fact that you’re counting on it to provide you with real news and worthwhile articles is a big pet peeve of mine. Not as big a pet peeve as watching people cook a really good steak to well done, but a pet peeve nevertheless.

It’s nice connecting with people I don’t get to see much, or family across the country, or old classmates (maybe “old” is the wrong word . . . former?), but Facebook does hit my pet peeve button a few times . . .

I guess that’s not all that bad in today’s wired world . . .