By Smaktakula
“These Are The Kind Of Thoughts That Kept Me Out Of The Really Good Schools.” — George Carlin
Here’s a great icebreaker question for your next party:
Imagine that you’ve just posted a heartfelt suicide note to Facebook or some other social media platform, only to find that your friends/followers/stalking victims have misinterpreted your desperate cry for help as a joke.
ARE YOU:
SAD
because your virtual friends don’t care enough about your well-being to take you seriously?
or
GLAD
because people apparently don’t think you’re the kind of asshole who does his crying on social media?
Well, At Least On Social Media, Okay?
Promethean Times 
Sometimes, all one needs is someone he/she can talk to. ( but not on social media, you’re right )
I definitely agree, and don’t want to suggest that a person who’s in crisis shouldn’t seek out help. I guess I’m looking to differentiate between a cry for help and a cry for attention.
Well, the problem is you often can’t tell until it’s too late. I have a friend who is bipolar and she has discussed her numerous hospitalizations and daily struggle with me…so every time I see one of her “questionable” posts, it would annoy me if I didn’t know what she is actually going through, and how one wrong word could send her over the edge. I guess when in doubt as to whether a person is sincere or just a drama queen you gotta go with your gut (like Leroy Jethro Gibbs 😉 )
Ha! I think that’s true about going with your gut. I haven’t experienced a bi-polar friend on FB (I had a friend who suffered from it, that was before the dawn of FB), but I hope if I did that I would act appropriately and not be a self-absorbed asshole. Hopefully, I wouldn’t come up wanting.
It’s hard, because people like that, they can be emotionally draining. It’s not all their fault;they are ill, but it is hard to be close to someone like that. Well, you know…
First of all, new digs you got here. Like it. Do you have a fondness for that show that I cannot recall the name of now?
I agree with you about keeping personal stuff personal. Save the really sacred stuff for close friends or those who can truly help. When it comes to suicide though, maybe someone is so desperate, that’s all they have, to ask for help in that way. I surely hope not because social media most likely wouldn’t be the best place for that kind of assistance.
Diff’rent Strokes! I do have a fondness for it, but not for its quality, but rather for the good memories of making fun of it.
And ultimately you’re right about asking for help. I was being somewhat facetious, and although I don’t feel social media is really the place to ask for that kind of help, I will readily admit that if that’s the only avenue a person has for seeking help, then it’s the best avenue to take.
Personally I use Facebook purely for comedy, and never whining. (Unless said whining is also funny.) I guess I assume, by default, that everyone else uses it much the same way, but I could be wrong. After all, the world don’t move…to the beat of just one drum.
Thanks for stopping by, Domingosaurus! And you’re so right about the world not moving to the beat of just one drum. It is said that “What might be right for you, may not be right for some.”
I think comedy is an excellent use for FB. I have some friends who routinely publish funny stuff and it’s nice to have something entertaining in my feed. Honestly, I don’t have many FB friends who are the excessively mopey type, thankfully.
Me neither! (But that might be because I delete them)
I have no response for this, but I will say I like your new theme. Didn’t recognize where I was for a second!
Well, I think it’s perfectly lovely that you stopped by.
I think I am with ya on this one, Smak. Lots of drama mamas out there. If you need serious help, you got get there with a personal connection not by shouting it out to echoing walls.
I wouldn’t imagine that your Yankee pride would allow you to do your crying in such a public fashion. But maybe things have changed…
Yankee stubbornness and stoic demeanor. Not pride.
That is a difficult one.
Since I’m not suicidal and my friends know I don’t do Facebook, I can only assume they’d think it was someone pretending to me. Now whether this imposter was serious in his or her intentions is anyone’s guess.
Yeah, that would be outside the typical situation. I hope your doppelganger gets the help he so clearly needs!
I’m neither sad nor glad about this, Smak, because I’m such a laggard when it comes to social media. I would be amongst the last to know that someone did that, or I’d miss it entirely until I’d hear from someone in The Real World that so and so did that and then offed himself. I also think that there might be a generation gap here i.e., someone who’s grown up attention whoring on social media, for them, posting something so intimate and desperate just might be normal.
That’s a good point, and as I am so often, I’m not being completely serious. Make no mistake, I meant what I said, but I do believe that a person should seek help however s/he can, and I would hope that the people in his or her life would respond appropriately.