To ask people about the mind set of FB users who brag, brag, brag

[raltheraffe]

I struggle a bit understanding other people's intentions and motivation.
This person has already been unfriended.
I am just wondering why she does it. I am aware a couple of shitty things have happened to her this year, but yet no mention of them, just this incessant bragging which I find a bit weird.

I have a friend who seemingly cannot eat a meal without posting a picture of it first. I just find that really odd. Why would it even ocurr to you to do that? In a restaurant ffs, when you are with your husband or friends?

Another friend posts several times a day from her exotic holidays, every grain of sand, every cocktail, every pleasant view catalogued for our delectation. That's just odd, right?

I don't get Facebook when you (ahem) are over the age of 20. Why live your life with an audience in mind? Can't you just keep and enjoy things for yourself without needing validation from others? I live far from friends and family and they are perfectly aware of what is going on in our lives without facebook involvement.

The weirdest post was supposed to be something negative, a bereavement, but even that was uncharacteristically chirpy "I am so happy you are with the angels now, you and Aunt Ethel up there having a party!" Lots of exclamation marks and smileys.
She did a Kickstarter campaign this year and was updating every 30 minutes looking for backers and then when she failed to reach the target there was no mention of it.
I am really honest on my FB page and just put my thoughts with no spin on it. I wonder whether it is my ASD that means I handle FB differently from others.
I love FB because I am on a lot of dog rescue sites and lost dog sites and I am interested in that.

So you unfriended her & yet still look at her profile...why?

Well, I use it because it's a simple and fun way to keep in touch with friends and family all over the world. I don't see why that's so difficult to understand. I mean I don't get Twitter but I'm not going to criticise people for using it, it's just not for me. It's not the only way I stay in touch, but it's fun and convenient. If you don't like it, don't use it.

Yes, why is posting about anything nice 'bragging'? And I really don't get this 'it is wrong to admit to having/doing anything nice in case someone who doesn't have or do said nice thing gets upset'. That's life and even the poorest in this country are relatively fortunate on a global scale.

When people used to send postcards from holiday, the meaning was 'we are all still alive, hotel is great/OK/a dump, look at this lovely view/fat bloke with a stick of rock, see you next week' and surely, to most people, FB is just a modern day version of this?

Those who see evil intentions for some reason, when you got a postcard from your Aunty Beryl's week in Benidorm, you didn't instantly think 'oh look at her, flaunting her spare cash and cellulite on a week's all inclusive sun, sea and sangria. Why isn't she enjoying her holiday instead of pissing about with postcards, and anyway, I know she hasn't shagged uncle Reg since 1975 so how dare she claim to be having a lovely time' while we have a week in the rain in Margate'.

Yes, some people post pointless drivel about their breakfast, some people are overly materialistic and some people post about their real or imagined misery that is inappropriate for a public audience, but I really think a lot of the haters are overthinking this just a little bit.

Aside from which, people are allowed to post what they hell they want on their walls. It isn't up to anyone to say what & can't be shared.

What is wrong with bragging? I.e being proud of yourself, your children & your situation?

Are we not allowed to be proud in case we upset those who aren't as proud/happy as us?

If you don't like it, stop using fb!

I don't have nearly enough preposterous people on my Facebook.

I had a relative who fancies herself deep and intellectual and she would post pictures of herself reading Milton over breakfast. She was great.

I post pictures of DD whenever she wins swimming medals because she's fucking awesome. I post pictures of ludicrously expensive holidays because I'm somewhere amazing and it still astonishes me. I mostly complain though. Often about Stuart Barnes. He's a dick,

Some people are just inveterate braggers.
others are insecure.
then others are masking issues.
for example, this canadian woman i know bragged, bragged, bragged on facebook about her family xmas trip to rio last year.
what a lot of people did not know was that the trip was to avoid new years at home where her brother had committed suicide that summer.
her mother having committed suicide a few years previous to that.
i rest my case.

Facebook is a reprsentation of either people's best life or worst life.

(Probably because what is between those two extremes is rather mundane and not overly interesting!).

Why live your life with an audience in mind? Don't we all have an audience anyway? We all have people we share photos with, either by sending them via post, or email. We all have people we tell stuff to, again...via email/post.

[shrugs] My family are 12thousand ks away, fb is convenient to let them know how we are doing. FAR cheaper than calling these days!

I would actually unfriend anyone who only put negative posts up, life is too short.

I do not get the bereavement post as when someone dies , unless it is someone that you really hate, the correct emotion would be sadness, so why be all chirpy and happy about it? I just do not get it at all.

Your Auntie Beryl wouldn't have sent you 8 postcards a day though, would she?

FB = The empty tin makes the loudest noise.

My least favourite facebook users aren't the braggers or the complainers, it's the ones who update 10 times a day avoid utterly mundane things.

Example - "went shopping at Morrisons". And?

I unfollow all these people.

One of my facebook friends can be a bit of a bragger but by the same token she is actually living a rather more glamorous life than most (very wealthy boyfriend) so there is certainly an element of envy colouring how I read her posts. It's not really fair to expect people to not share their life just because theirs is a bit better than everybody else's. She's actually a very nice person so I know it's probably more me than her, iyswim?

Pagwatch if you want preposterous, add some of my FB friends

They are mostly so unintentionally hilarious it's like a hobby for me LOLing at them and despairing and their Jezza style lives / ridiculous boasting / public arguments (delete as applicable)

Prime example of this friend I briefly knew at school (we share a mutual close friend) her life was all sugar coated for ages (even when her DH he left her and the DC and she vented about that on FB). She sent me some emails when I wrote to her about some appalling sex attack in her teens and also about DH and the ow - you'd never know from the outset it was like this.

I'm v pleased for her now (even tho she is braggy) but realise that's just her way of coping.

I'm not on FB now but when I came off it I had friends contact me and we now connect through twitter, email, real life etc. I also realise I can vent in public (eg FB) so I now keep a tight rein on what I post and if not being on FB helps so be it. I've lost count of arguments caused by social media (FB etc) and in a sense I hope it gradually lessens so people actually communicate face to face or by phone rather than vent over a laptop screen.

Oh and OP I've got a friend who I'm not friends with for about 2 years ago now. Her FB is all hearts and flowers but I know for a fact it def wasn't when I was her close friend and she was quieter then. Truth is do you really tell people you've been punched in the face by OH, had to move in with parents and rent out your house etc - no you don't!

Ignore your ex friend.

different I did the same as OP looked at ex friend's profile yet hadn't unfriended her just wasn't on FB anymore. Call it curiosity. In my case our friendship had ended over something serious but petty. I guess I wanted to see if she was still with the SO she went on holiday with after inviting me and dumping me and me paying a deposit and uninvited me by email etc (she is).

Personally they don't bother me , no-one that I can think of on my FB is an out and out bragger though . I have a couple of the constant woe is me types who make me chuckle .

House I didn't say I wanted my friend to discuss a Sex attack!

I'm talking about how people paint a different persona publicly and yes a few people did know about her attacks I was using it as an example of what generally you don't mention but some people DO mention it.