Interactions With Our Friends and Acquaintances Online and Offline

So here I am, wandering around online. I see old friends, and new friends, and some people I call my “online” family. Then there are those whom I think of as just acquaintances. Each one unique in their own way.

One of the pros of having online friends, they don’t drop into your house, drink your beer, smoke your weed, or clean up the last of your pizza. They just drop into your page, and leave a note now and then… no fuss, no mess. Pretty good when you think about it.

The only problem with online friends is you never know when they are going to be online unless you’ve set up a meeting time, which can be hard if your schedules don’t mingle.

Now another good thing about online friends is if they are having problems, and they write a post about it, you can either ignore it, write a heartfelt comment, or actually try to help their situation. I usually try to help, because actually, the people I’ve made friends with online, I care for very much. I often wish I could replace/exchange them, for some of my offline friends, because some of them are just bat crap crazy…I know, I know, I picked them...what the heck was I thinking?

Most of the "online friends" I have made, I met on social blogging sites. So let me start by saying I always appreciate anyone dropping in and reading my little posts. When someone actually comments and sometimes even follows me, it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling in all the right places, but most of them aren’t friends.

Many of us post articles here, there, and everywhere, and build up a few people who will follow because they enjoy the silliness of what we write. Many newbies send out “friend” requests. Well, I often oblige and accept, but please don’t confuse my acceptance as a vow of friendship. We really don’t know each other and are more of an “online acquaintance” sort of relationship.

Of course, over time, depending on how often we interact, and what those interactions are like, we quite possibly may become online friends. The very first friend I had online, I met on a social blogging site.

His name was Rupert and he hailed from Australia. He and I often wrote to each other until health problems prevented him from being physically able to continue his online interactions and sadly he passed. It was Rupert who "taught" me the ins and outs of how to handle friend requests and acceptance of those requests. He truly was a great online friend and I still miss those talks we often had.

Friends, Well you Picked Them

We all have our own offline lives, that often throw us twists, turns, and curves we weren’t expecting, many of our offline friends pop in unexpectedly.

You know the scenario… My friend, ”Hey man, just dropped in, wanted to know how you are?”

My reply, “Well, you could have called, you have my number, now excuse me while I get out of bed and get dressed, oh, and sorry about the wife's snoring…she does that when she’s still asleep at 5 am!”

See, if you have a friend offline, that has a problem, they either call, (this is where caller id actually is great) or they come over to your house. It’s hard to pretend you aren’t home if one of your grandchildren happens to be running around your yard.

If not, you may have to turn off all your appliances, and hide out of window viewing! Or, buckle down, and face the music. Once again, I usually do, but sometimes, just sometimes, I feel like moving and not leaving a forwarding address.

Enjoy Your Family, Even If They Have Social Media Accounts

As I mentioned above, we have our offline lives, but when it comes to Social Media, the offline and online often combine, and not always in a good way. How often do we see family grudges come to the surface and play out in one ugly detail after another?

There are so many times when I have to wonder what these people are thinking. They air their dirty laundry for all to see, and many seem to think that outsiders should pick their side. Any person with the IQ of a goldfish should know to keep out of those types of messes, yet many don't.

So this brings me to family interactions on Social Media. Well, we all have those family members that we just know should have been incubated a few more months in the womb, just to make sure all the parts were there and working. Of course, their mothers may have objected to carrying around that little bundle of “joy” for a couple of years...or more!

One of the big problems is having “distant” family as online friends. Interactions of distance family on Social Media sites can be great, or it can be a royal pain in the old keyster!

Problems can be caused through Social Media, and usually, when distant relatives post pics of newborns, graduations, weddings, or other family gatherings, not all families are “pretty” and do not always create Kodak Moments!

They post pic after pic of their kids and expect us to say how beautiful they are. Well, actually many aren’t. Some kids are just plain ugly, and unfortunately for them, stay that way.

Does us, saying your child is good-looking make them good-looking? NO! Look, if you have an ugly kid, and you have to tie a pork chop around its neck, just so your dog will play with it, then you should know, your kid is ugly. Don’t be posting pics, expecting us to say how cute your kid is. If you don’t get any comments, you should realize, you got an ugly kid!

Also, posting wedding pics of your daughter and her bridesmaids dressed in purple, and saying oh, how beautiful… when in fact they all look like Barney the dinosaur.

You all heard that beauty is in the eye of the beholder… it’s bull. We all know ugly when we see it. Just because you got pregnant, were in labor for 36 hours straight, don’t make us feel the pain too, by posting pics of an ugly kid!

Now don't get the impression I think I'm a "looker," actually I'd say I'm far from it, I just don't like lying to someone just to save their feelings, I'd rather not add any input at all if I can possibly avoid it. My apologies in advance if I may have upset or hit a nerve, my sense of humor is not always appreciated by some, which is perfectly fine with me!

Friends, or Acquaintances, online or off, we get to pick them… Family, we get them as they are, whether we want them or not!