Watching the television show on Sunday called Sixty Minutes they had an article claiming Facebook (FB) is addicting. As a FB user, skepticism rose up inside me and came unwittingly and verbally out of my mouth, "Noooooo!" The speaker went on to say people get addicted to the "likes." When you post a comment or a photo, people can like it with a thumbs up emoticon, a heart emoticon, a wow emoticon, a "ha ha" emoticon, an angry emoticon or a sad emoticon. (Side note and entirely unrelated, a recent photo of newborn feet I posted got 41 likes). Your feed tells you how many emoticons you get and how many comments you get. People can write comments on your picture or your post. In the comments they can post another picture or write stuff or write other people's name which tags them. When you get tagged you get a notice where someone wrote your name. The Sixty Minutes show claimed people log into FB many, many times a day to count their likes, their comments and if they have been tagged. Psychologically, FB has triggered a need in our brains that we didn't know was there until after FB started. I have friends who ask me to email me photos from my travels. Seriously? I tell them to join FB. I don't want to spend my vacation sending individual emails of photos. Some friends I do send photos because they're not on FB but they are very very special friends and not many. I came closer to agreement that FB could be addicting yesterday. Yesterday I had quite the day. I almost hit 6 deer on the way to work. Only 3 deer were involved but they tried to cross in front of me twice and 3 x 2 = 6. After that I saw a Ramsey Police Department posting of a terrier mix dog found at the very intersection where I live. A terrier! Terriers are hunting dogs, right? I have chickens outside. The terrier could be terrorizing them! Dog gone terrier!!!!! What could I do about it? I was at work! I could call a neighbor. They would be happy to check on them. But what are they going to do? Repair the chicken coop, offer first aid to all the live chickens, catch them and offer counseling until I get home? No, they're not going to do all that. What happened has happened. Let it go. Relax. It is entirely possible that the terrier didn't notice the flock of 7 chickens. Can I let it go? No, I can not let it go. The idea of that dog gone terrier was terrorizing me. I text my neighbor. She's not home. She is in Bloomington. Her husband will be home in an hour. Her husband checks on my chickens. I get word that the chickens are fine. While on one level I am happy to hear that I am upset with myself for ruining my day over an event that didn't even happen! For me on this day, looking at FB was not good. Good things happen on FB too. I see photos that are super cute. I learn about family and friends. I feel closer to some people because of FB. I know now to keep a healthy distance from others. A legendary family story of a pet owl comes out with new details - it actually flew around inside the house! Today I saw a video of my grand daughter singing Winkle Winkle Little Star to her sister. Awww FB, I wish I knew how to quit you.
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