You ever notice how sometimes people think something is one thing when in fact, they have missed the point entirely? Okay. So here's the thing - I was in a coffee shop the other day waiting for my morning fix and I overheard a couple of people talking about Facebook. One says to the other, "I HATE Facebook" and the other replies, "I know what you mean, my kid spends all of his time on it and if I need to tell him something, I send him a Facebook message 'cause I know he'll see it there first!".

Now, it seems to me that hating Facebook is a bit like saying 'I hate guns' as if the gun had anything to do with the person's behaviour who used it. And maybe you think that this is a bit of an extreme analogy but think about it.

Why hate Facebook? Why blame Facebook?

Is it the tool that makes people post things that are completely irrelevant to everyday living? Does using Facebook mean that you have to spill your entire guts to the entire world? Does using Facebook mean that you can't have a relationship with your children anymore? Does using Facebook make people less intelligent, more thoughtless, meaner, or just plain stupider (yes, it's a word, I checked).

The answer quite simply put is NO.

Facebook is a tool. It's the human behaviour behind the tool that people are having issue with. Just because you have a Facebook account doesn't mean that you all of a sudden have to post your most intimate thoughts, share the photo you wished had never seen the light of day, or become friends with everyone who asks you. You still get a choice. You still get to choose what kind of bahaviour you will be comfortable with when you are using the tool. You get to make all the decisions. No one is making you do anything. Total control is yours if only for the desire to interact on your own terms. It's your world to make and do with it as you wish. And for the record, Facebook has helped people be a lot more loving, kind and thoughtful in the world too. (see the story on the woman who used Facebook to turn $93 Dollars into $100,000 for charity)

So let's really look at the cause instead of the effect when we say things like, 'I hate social media'.
What you really mean is 'I don't understand social media and it scares me' which is why I have a judgment on it.

See, now that wasn't so difficult, was it?