I have been sick this week, which means, among other things, that I have spent a lot of my time as a lump on the couch or in bed. While this has hindered my ability to be the spectacular father that I normally am it has enhanced my time on Facebook. Because of this I have been a little more interconnected to the lives of others this past week and have been privy to some of the issues that you all seem to be having. To that end I would like to submit four suggestions to you.
1) If you air your issues on Facebook don't be overly surprises when people comment on them
This may not come as a surprise to many of you, but if you post something socially than anyone in your social network can then comment on it. This means that you will get a ridiculously large amount of Happy Birthday wishes and likes on baby pictures, but it also means that when you moan or complain or take personal matters and broadcast them there is a contingency of people you know that will comment on them. Some of these people will take your side of the rant or argument or opinion, but there are others who will disagree with you, and a few who will belittle you for saying it in the first place. This happens because you have say 300 Facebook friends, most of which you hardly know in real life and all of which do not see the world through your viewpoint.
It is your social networking right to post whatever you want, just don't be surprised when your friends bite the hand that's feeding them.
2) there is a CAPS Lock button, learn how to use it, or rather how not to
Somewhere on the left hand side of your laptop or keyboard there is located a rectangular button that reads 'Caps Lock' or 'CAPS Lock' or perhaps just 'CAPS.' Go ahead and take a second and look down at your keyboard. Do you see it? Now a lot of computers will give you some kind of signal that this button is activated. Sometimes you will have a little padlock light that comes on, sometimes a big padlock with a capital 'A' will show up on screen. In truth, even if your computer doesn't have a way to let you know it is specifically activated there is one other way to know BECAUSE EVERYTHING YOU TYPE WILL BE CAPITALIZED LIKE SO. The point of the button is, well I don't really know to be honest, the only time I ever use it is to make signs or if I want to YELL AT SOMEONE [typed with one finger on the 'shift' button which will also capitalize a letter, in case you didn't know] on line.
UNFORTUNATELY THERE ARE SOME OF YOU OUT THERE THAT JUST LEAVE IT ON ALL THE TIME AND EVERYTHING YOU TYPE COMES OUT LOOKING LIKE YOUR ARE TRYING TO OVER EMPHASIZE WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY. LIKE YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO GET THE POINT ACROSS THAT WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAT WHAT EVERYONE ELSE HAD TO SAY ON THE MATTER.
It's annoying, please stop.
3) auto-correct does knot always work in you're favor
There are a few of my friends out there in Facebook world who seem to be the worst spellers on the planet. Now, I do think that one of my friends literally is one of the worst spellers on the planet, but as for the rest of you I think you merely fall victim to our friend Mr. Auto-Correct. In case you didn't know the majority of phones and tablets and computers these days come with a tiny little guy inside who will help decide what the word is that you are currently typing and will sometimes change that word to what he believes you want to say as opposed to what you type.
Now, I will be the first to admit that this kind little guy is often correct in his assumptions about our words, but there are times when he, like most of us are, is a little lax at his job and puts in the wrong word. That's when it lands, once again, in our hands to correct his auto-correcting ways. The problem becomes when we are too dependent on his brain and less dependent on our own. In those moments we just go on typing assuming [and we all know what that does] that our little friend is on the top of his game and our sentences can look like the one in bold that precedes this section.
So please, rely on your little friend, but, reread before you push 'share.'
4) Facebook is the great equalizer, you are usually treated the way you treat others
This may be hard for you to hear, may be hard for me to hear, but oftentimes the people in your Facebook sphere of influence will treat you like you have previously treated them. Which means if you are kind people will generally be kind to you, and if you are a criticizer you will be criticized, and if you are gossip you will be gossiped about, and if you laugh at someone's pain your pain will be laughed at. There is no simple solution to this, we make the beds that we lay in. What you can do is start to be nicer and more gracious to people and sooner or later they will return the favor.
I hope that these four pointers help you out, or at least help you to laugh at the people who don't happen to heed the advice.
Peace and Love,
Pastor K
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