Sunday, September 6, 2009

About Facebook friends and their babies

*Disclaimer: I wrote this post in a cynical and sarcastic way, inspired by Seinfeld's nihilism and seasoned with my recent bitterness. Keep that in mind.

I recently added many old schoolmates on my Facebook. There were so many requesting to be my 'friend', I just couldn't continue ignoring them. So I created another account just for them. First of all, why do so many people I was never close with, want to follow my daily life, rummage thru my photos, be my 'friends'? Didn't they get the hunch by me virtually ignoring them in real life for almost a decade? I'm not gonna update anything on my second account but just upload photos from my travels and let them wonder. Yes, that's how I roll, hehe. I still have my old (main) account where I only add people who I feel comfortable with. And guess what, most of them are from all over the world. Yes, in this phase of my life, I only befriend like-minded people and not those who just happen to live in the same town like me. And some people from here, who happen to be my friends, don't use Facebook (weird). But thanks to the internet, I can have 2 identities and nobody can do anything about it. Yes, I am very selective.

Well, what actually made me write this post, was the fact that so many of my old schoolmates have babies and they post pics of them on Facebook. I mean, why would they do this? Why? First of all, I would never put a photo of my (future) baby online. I mean, what will these 'babies' say in 20 years? Do we have to document someone's life online since their birth? What happened to the old classic phot album? They are humans and not objects and since they're incapable to tell wheather they want to be exposed online or not, I would never put their photos online. Secondly, every baby looks the same. So what's the point to let others see a baby? Can't you just write 'I have a baby, it's healthy and it looks like any other baby' on your wall and get on with your life? Wouldn't that be enough?

I mean, where is the time when people, if they really wanted to see your baby, came to your home? Is this so 20th century? [*Am I too sentimental?]

I mean something like that on the clip below, from Seinfeld:


I feel like some people post the pics of their babies like trophies, like Look at me, I am not yet 30 and I have a baby! I accomplished something! I am mainstream. Are you? Well, I am not. I could be easily, but since I was always a skilled master of *cough... I mean, I was always careful, so I just happen not to be. Which can be an accomplishment far bigger than the opposite. Then again, what is mainstream these days anyway? Men in twenties 'having babies' seem to become rare recently. So maybe I am mainstream.

I really don't know... maybe I'm bitter now, but once I have a baby myself, I will be like them: An overly excited parent-freshman, who will post hunderds of photos of his newborn and prouldy tweet: My baby made his first poop. #proudparent #baby #random and then soon after post another tweet: Please follow @littleMKL #FF. Hehe, who knows. We'll see in few years ;-)

Now, what do you think? Baby photos online, pro or contra and why?
Not being a parent in the twenties,
pro or contra and why?

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