Tuesday 10 May 2011

The Truth About My Facebook Friends

My main reason for hanging out on Fb is to keep an eye on my family and a handful of close friends. Seeing as I have them scattered all over the world, Fb is way cheaper than long distance calls and certainly less of a 'deliberate exercise' than emails. Especially when you just want to shout out a few lines like, 'Hope you're okay'. Fb is also all-encompassing, you can chat, share pictures, tag many people in the same message, send them all your love and kisses and be over and done with. Finally, with literally everyone on Fb, all your eggs are in one basket, so so speak.

A recent study suggested that people feel closer to their virtual Fb friends, even those they've never met, than they do friends in real life. Really?

I have 109 'friends' on Fb. In real life I only have about 5 friends whom I can count on. By that I mean people who wouldn't hesitate to give me their blood should I, for some unknown reason, began to bleed profusely out of my eye balls. Needless to say I've always had my reservations about having high numbers of friends. Nowadays I refuse a lot of requests and have even 'shed' some people whom I don't think add value to my life. I think the more vacuous a person is, the more vain they are, the more readily they lift up their skirts, the more friends they are likely to amass on Fb.

For me, once the initial fever or seeing someone you'd last seen when you were both in diapers wore off, the whole Fb business began to rub me the wrong way. Fb friendship is the kind of friendship that leaves you to choke on your own vomit after a status update telling your 'friends' you may have had a bit of fish bone stuck in your throat. In other words, you may feel close to them, but when it comes to the crunch it's your REAL friends that will bail you out.

Admittedly I've had online relationships in the past and the bond you form can be stronger that that which you can have with people in the flesh. However, that was way back when I was young and stupid and now I realize that there would have to be a huge element of seeing through rose tinted glasses for one to truly value such a relationship more than they would with a real person.

Majority of my current Fb friends are at most mere acquaintances, who, from time to time, update the bits and pieces about their life that they want people to know about.

Last week, on a particularly frustrating day I logged in and it dawned on me that my life is so far removed from those of my so called friends. We're all going through different cycles in our lives and even the ones that used to be my 'best friends' don't even know what's going on in my life right now. It made me question if indeed we had a friendship; or if just happened to rub elbows because we were close enough to do so.

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While I'm on the subject of whinging, I'm still waiting on the nurse to get back to me about the IUI treatment. I called them last month, was told they'd call me back. Didn't hear from them in 4 weeks. When I called again today, I was told the same thing. When they didn't call back after two hours, I called them again, only to be told the nurse couldn't get back to me last time because she was on her annual leave and that this time she was seeing a patient and would definitely get back to me. I'm still waiting.

I really appreciate the NHS and all the help they've given me so far in tackling PCOS and in TTC, I know IUI is free, I also know there has been swinging cuts in the sector. If the treatment is no longer on offer, I'd much rather know sooner than later. What's worse than waiting is not knowing if you're waiting in vain. My patience is running thin, to be honest. If it's not going to work, I'd like to move on and focus on other things. 

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