By Keating Smith, Contributor
Although I admire Ms. Isbister and her experiment to refrain from using social media for a month, I personally could not and will not ever do this. My news feed is packed with updates both small and large, close and far, that I rely on every day. Several discussion groups for courses contain valuable study material, and to top it off, the only way I can contact some of my closest friends is through Facebook and email. Despite being a social media slave, there are a few problematic items I would like to address when it comes to using social media properly. My intentions are not to offend you, but perhaps to make you think twice about the way you use your social media of choice next time.
Top five things to not post on Facebook
1. The over-posted meme. Everyone’s news feed seems to be completely clogged with memes ranging from cute cats to the American presidential race. Do some of these picture/text thingies make you laugh? Of course they do. That’s their objective. Do you see them repeated on your feed multiple times? I’m sure you do. With that in mind, do you need to re-post the meme yet again? Probably not. Look at the bottom of the posting. If it has 10,000 likes and 40,000 shares, chances are, a large portion of those in the social media world have already seen it.
2. The elusive link. The really cool and obscure article you found in the bowels of the Internet, whether it is a news article, blog, or new music was a good find and I enjoyed checking it out. Why not write a few opinionated lines when you post it next time? That will grab our attention even more.
3. Your word-vomit. So, after a week of studying, you and the gang finally painted the town red last weekend, and you most certainly deserved it. I know it’s hard to refrain from “drunk Facebooking,” especially considering we all use smartphones. But please, I beg you, when I wake up in the morning and see nonsensical misspelled status updates littered all over my news feed along with blurry dark phone camera pictures, you are essentially puking all over the Internet. Post a picture/update or two of the good times had that night. Just do it in moderation.
4. The “Vaguebook.” If you are unfamiliar with this term, here’s an explanation: it is posting every emotion you feel throughout the day on public display for us to read and comment on. Would you not feel better talking to someone in person about your feelings instead of displaying them for the masses to see?
5. Instagrammed life-shots. Your pet is really cute. You should feel so lucky to have such a loving animal in your life. Do others need to see your pet 10 times a day in different poses with different photo filters attached to it on two different types of social media? No. The same goes for your daily food intake.
