F******k it

I still don't get it. Or rather I get it, but I don't 'get' it. I'm talking about Facebook again. I just don’t know why people rave about it and feel the need to update their profile every 6 minutes. I can see that it can be useful for sharing photographs and the like, but other than that it seems to me to be a bit of a waste of time. Having said that, I guess some would argue much the same can be said for blogging…

The reason Facebook has resurfaced in my psyche is that yesterday I received another Facebook “friend request” by email. I get these every so often, sometimes from people I know and sometimes (more often) from complete strangers. I usually just delete them but this one was at least from someone I have met (but only once or twice so does that count as a “friend”?). I clicked on the link to go to the dreaded Facebook site. Turns out I have 51 friend requests that I haven’t yet confirmed. Oh dear… I hope no-one has taken offence. Although given that most of them are people I’ve never met then f**k ’em.

That seemed a little harsh didn’t it? But I was just taking a leaf out John Parkin’s book. It’s a great book. Or at least a book with a great title... it’s called F**k It: The Ultimate Spiritual Way (published by Hay House). Rachel has bought it for a friend for Christmas so I had a flick through it (I'm secretly hoping she might have got me a copy for Christmas too!).

The idea is that sometimes we just need to say “f**k it!”. We need to realise that much of the time (perhaps all of the time?) things just aren’t worth getting stressed about. According to Parkin, saying f**k it encapsulates much of the philosophy of Eastern wisdom (given a nice Western vernacular spin!). There is a Fuckitway.com website, where you can read more, buy a f**k it chocolate bar (or say f**k it and buy a whole box), and even book yourself a place on a f**k it holiday in Italy! They also have a page on, ahem, F******k.

Facebook: My arse

Now that I no longer smoke, I'm hardly ever asked this anymore, but when I did smoke, like most smokers, I would often be asked the question, "Got a match?". And every now and again, I would get great pleasure out of answering, "yeah, your face and my arse...". I would usually still have a broad grin on my face after my questioner removed his fist from it.

These days, whenever I now see or hear the mention of the social networking website Facebook it for some reason makes me think of that brilliantly childish response to a polite request for a match. And what's worse, I'm now hearing about Facebook more and more. Over the last month or so, I have been receiving requests from people inviting me to join them as a "friend" on Facebook. I deleted these email requests until I eventually relented when I received one from my brother.

Now that I am registered on Facebook I have, get ready for this... 10 "friends"! Count them. Ten. And one of them is my own brother! I know what you're thinking... these are just people I know who happen to be registered on Facebook and have a little too much time on their hands. But no, these are real "friends". I know that they are real "friends", because Facebook says so.

And, thanks to Facebook, I can find out when my "friends" are becoming "friends" with other people, what groups they are joining, when they are adding photos to their pages, and when they are adding or removing Facebook applications. I wonder if it can also tell me when any of my "friends" are wiping their arse? I have a feeling it probably can.

Social networking sites are all the rage these days... Facebook has something like 28 million registered users while it seems there are over 100 million registered on MySpace. Whatever. I can't see it catching on myself. Anyway, gotta go, one of my good "friends" is mid-wipe.