6 Things that Annoy Me About Facebook.

Social media, (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) can be fun, even addicting to some. But we must also admit that it can be very annoying. The purpose NBFamilies.info is to encourage parents and grandparent to understand that they are the primary disciple makers of their children and grand children. So what does my annoyances have to do with the purpose of this blog? Actually, very little.
I have been writing about doing marriage right as a gift to your observing children for about 13 weeks. So, I’ve decided that today it will be fine to let off some steam and vent about some (not all) of the things on Face book that irritate me. They don’t infuriate me. They don’t exasperate me. But they do annoy me. Instead of stewing in my displeasure, I decided to blog about it.

1. Pastors that only post about church events or promote their own blog postings. OK, let me start here. I think I am talking about me here. Yes. I made the list too. I assume that there some, a few, maybe many people who are annoyed every time I promote a church event or promote my latest blog. I apologize. Please forgive me? If you will repost or retweet every event or promotion that I submit I promise to stop posting them. Not really. It is not my intention to annoy you. Nor is offending you the intention of any of the things on the list below. This is my rant. It is not intended to offend anyone. If I offend you, I’m sorry. Really.



2. Lists that force you to click (sometimes twice or three times) to advance to a new page, and then another new page, and then another new page, and then another new page, and then another new page,to finish the list.We are annoyed by all tease titles. But we are especially bothered by tease titles that say, “You’re not going to believe #12, or #21…" We won’t last until #12 if that means we have to load 24 or 36 clicks of cookies, images, and click ads to our cache. We are aware that your website is monetized. We also know that you are paid based upon the amounts of clicks to your website. Please don’t bank on our gullibility. We will only innocently click through 1 or 2 photos before we vow to never again believe in your undelivered promise to “shock,” us or find something “unbelievable,” or “fall down laughing.” In reality, this is the information age. We are rarely shocked anymore, and most of us have never fallen down laughing.


3. Misleading links that take you to page that has nothing to do with the tease.Leading us astray wastes our time. Wasting our time at work cheats our employer. We used to call this deception or lying. We used to say, “Liar, lair, pants on fire!” Remember the little boy who cried, “Wolf,” too many times? It didn’t go well for him, but at least his pants didn’t catch on fire.



4. Pages that take creative measures to trick you to read the pop up advertisement.
   • The hovering pop up ad that obstructs the view of the article we are reading is equivalent to a childish, spoiled punk whose intent is to hassle us. We are not impressed with your silliness.
   • The moving pop up ad that stays on the page even when we have scrolled on in an attempt to ignore said pop up ad. We have never been chased by a moving pop up ad so long that we have changed our mind and thought, “If that moving pop up ad has been so persistent then I had better click on it and purchase what ever it is advertising.” Rather, it makes us feel like we are being followed by a creepy, electronic stalker.
   • The “darken the screen of the page I really came to see” pop up ad that makes it impossible to see the page until you have forgotten why you navigated to this page and pursued the temptation of the pop up add. Or dangerously and painstakingly attempted to click the small “close” or “x” button possible.
   • The “Try this ad” button or tabs that masquerades as a “Close ad” button. We are aware that the text may load slower than the outline of the tab or button. But we can’t wait a second or two more to find out that we clicked the tab that did the exact opposite or what we were trying to do. Again, at no time did we click the wrong tab and then spontaneously change our mind about the pop up ad we were trying to avoid.
   As a famous commercial once said, “This whole thing is a travesty, a sham and a mockery...it's a traveshamockery!”



5. Politically or socially motivated articles that disguise themselves as news. When did social media become a trusted news source? Can I get a balanced and completed perspective in 140 Twitter text characters? Because I am a social media user who clicks on links that deal with religion, theology, and gospel related issues, my news feeds are filled with articles that inform me about such things. These articles are counting on the fact that I am also ignorant about such things. They are not aware that I am not interested in learning about religion, theology, and gospel related issues from a slanted information source with a hidden politically or socially motivated agenda. I don’t choose to get my religion, theology, and gospel related information from CNN, Yahoo News, or the Huffington Post. I prefer reading from scholars I trust. God fearing academics who I have faith in that research issues that understand their importance.

Pretend tests that help you discover meaningless traits about yourself. Perhaps one day I will be curious about:

• What kind of cartoon characters you tested to be…
• What kind of Disney princess you tested to be…
• What kind of food (fruit, vegetable, casserole, meat, etc.) you tested to be…
• What kind of rock band name you would have (if you were a rock band?) …

I know I am beginning to sound like a disgruntled old man complaining about things that are intended to be fun. But the shoe fits and the list is finished. My rant is over. I hope you were amused, if not but just a little.
Now, ignore your social media addiction and go spend some time with your kids.

Dr. Phil Sallee, Pastor
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