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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Facebook philosophers....why does everyone fancy themselves an online sage?

54 replies

FortunesFave · 31/12/2020 23:05

I'm so tired of all the 'wise speeches' people are giving on FB!

So many long-winded posts philosophising about the past year....all saying the same thing too. Nothing particularly eye-opening or inspirational...just a lot of hackneyed nonsense as though they'd copied down some quotes from those tacky signs people put up on their kitchen walls.

"Well it's been the year from hell and like most of us, I've been wondering when it will all end...the answer is....who knows? But what I do know is that life goes on and must go on...life is happening right now so instead of complaining and waiting for things to improve, why not start enjoying what we DO have?"

That sort of thing. Do these people think they're having original thoughts??? The posts are almost always massive too.

Why not just post "Happy New Year!" or something?

OP posts:

BashfulClam · 31/12/2020 23:34

I really hate people like your who police others Facebook. Just scroll past it’s up to them what they post, that’s the beauty of how Facebook works, you don’t need to read everything then give your judgement as if people’s thought processes are up to you.

underneaththeash · 31/12/2020 23:34

The couple of friends who post them are having MH problems and if it helps them just go with it...
They’re not my thing at all though.

Frolicinameadow · 31/12/2020 23:37

FB posting can be like screaming into the void, some word vomit into it, some use it as a daily journal, some humble brag, some openly brag, some complain endlessly. But the great thing is you can unfollow them, mute them, delete your profile entirely if you don’t want to read it.
Maybe it gives them a place where they feel heard or validated.
I use it to steal memes, I don’t judge what others do.

ItsIgginningtolookalotlikeXmas · 31/12/2020 23:37

Very few people have original thoughts. Still important to the person doing the thinking

TheSilentStars · 31/12/2020 23:38

Maybe time to cull your friends' list.

ButtWormHole · 31/12/2020 23:39

I can’t bring myself to get upset about people reflecting on the past year on New Year’s Eve

CherryCherries · 31/12/2020 23:40

Yabu. A friend of mine wrote a post tonight, she rarely posts at all and certainly never anything long winded etc. Her long term dp left her this year with 3 dc to bring up on her own. He was pretty useless before but has proved to be a complete fuckwit. It has obviously meant something to her to post on this NYE and to thank people etc.

Wind your neck in and scroll on...

headlock · 31/12/2020 23:40

Yeah, not my thing but scroll on by.

BlueThistles · 31/12/2020 23:41

Loathe Facebook... Love Mumsnet 🌺

Ihatefish · 31/12/2020 23:47

@ItsIgginningtolookalotlikeXmas

Very few people have original thoughts. Still important to the person doing the thinking

I really like this and 100% agree.

BlueThistles · 01/01/2021 01:17

@ItsIgginningtolookalotlikeXmas

Very few people have original thoughts. Still important to the person doing the thinking

love this.. and so true 😂

donquixotedelamancha · 01/01/2021 02:22

I'm so tired of all the 'wise speeches' people are giving on FB!......Do these people think they're having original thoughts???

The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality.

donquixotedelamancha · 01/01/2021 02:23

Maybe time to cull your friends' list.

I have a massive poster of this on my wall, written over a soft focus picture of a waterfall. Words to live by.

theThreeofWeevils · 01/01/2021 03:44

Words to live by
Even better if you delete 'list'

farandfew · 01/01/2021 04:17

Hope it made you feel better to drag others down.

Original poster

FortunesFave · 01/01/2021 06:36

Farandfew looks like it's you who enjoys that sort of thing! I suppose you're one of the people I posted about and it's hit a nerve?

I don't care one way or the other...I scroll past most of them. I just think it's interesting that so many people do this.

Why?

I'm genuinely interested. Nobody's been able to explain...

OP posts:

Livedandlearned · 01/01/2021 06:47

I do it sometimes, it's just an expression of thoughts and feelings. I've never claimed to be original but that doesn't mean my thoughts and feelings aren't relevant does it?

ouchmyfeet · 01/01/2021 07:00

It's the same every new year. Looking at my "friends" it's generally the thicker and less self aware ones . Some of them do genuinely seem to think they are having profound thoughts .

Peanutbutterblood · 01/01/2021 07:17

I'm getting rid of facebook after i write this comment.
In some ways these posts have been a bit better then I was expecting as there has just been so much negativity on there.

I saw a meme a while ago saying something along the lines of "soon there will be lots of NY posts from people listing what they have achieved in 2020 but if you have survived that's enough dont feel bad about it" and people on my fb commenting saying people shouldn't run salt in anyone's wounds

That meme annoyed me because I dont want people who have had good years being put off posting what they've achieved, people do it every year so why not this one

GeordieGreigsButtButtZoom · 01/01/2021 07:26

I'm genuinely interested. Nobody's been able to explain.

Oh God, OP, if you find it trite and platitudinous and want to tell us how you'd never do it, that's fine, but please stop with the wide-eyed "I just have such a detached, objective, academic curiosity about this strange human phenomenon, nobody can explain it to my satisfaction" bollocks. It's less genuine than those sorts of posts and therefore even more annoying. They're probably sincere to the person posting them, and they're no less profound than the thoughts you're expressing here. You know why they do it, just like we know why you're doing this.

Original poster

FortunesFave · 01/01/2021 08:24

Geordie Since you seem to compare this post with those FB posts...why is it ok for them to do it but not for me to post my thoughts on the matter? Why have I been attacked here?

OP posts:

GeordieGreigsButtButtZoom · 01/01/2021 08:52

@FortunesFave

Geordie Since you seem to compare this post with those FB posts...why is it ok for them to do it but not for me to post my thoughts on the matter? Why have I been attacked here?

This thread was started as an attack on those people, and if you're allowed to be critical about what people share, why can't others do the same?

But that aside...I suppose because, as trite as those kinds of posts are, they're not, well, an attack on anyone. They're just people sharing their thoughts. There might not be much profundity or originality, but there's also no malice or mean spirit. I'm pretty sure that by this point, you've expended more energy on them than they have.

And if I'm to be honest, I found the "I'm genuinely interested in why people do this, nobody can explain it, it's such a mystery to me" schtick to be more tedious and insincere than anything I see on Facebook this morning.

Hailtomyteeth · 01/01/2021 08:56

I talk to myself on fb. If people want to read it, they can. It's an easy journal.

greengrassapreciationsociety · 01/01/2021 09:09

You are attacking and criticizing people for engaging in one of the Many would say pointless humanpastimes, sharing ones opinion in something. Yes exactly what you are doing.
Let’s try this
I’m so tired of those people who share their arrogant dismissal of the momentary shared self expression of their fellow humans.
I’m with Geordie. You are outing yourself.
Diagnosis
Tiresome superiority complex going on with you I suspect. You may want to take a look at that rather than people’s benign musings on life as we start a new year.

User158340 · 01/01/2021 09:13

One of the worst things about the likes of Facebook is it gives a platform to every nonentity who thinks people actually give a shit what they think.

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