problems

  Some social media problems. First one is getting a birthday notification. It's so and so's birthday, wish them a happy birthday. Wait a second, something in the back of my mind tells me this person passed away. I don't want to just blurt out happy birthday and seem insensitive or ignorant! I don't want to say happy heavenly birthday either, that could be awkward. It's a bit of a dilemma. I'll just wait and see if anyone else responds first, then play it cool. I'm aware that a person's Facebook account doesn't just disappear if they pass, someone has to deactivate it somehow. I'm not sure how that works. What is to prevent anyone from just deactivating your account? You know, instead of just blocking you, eliminating you altogether. 

  Another issue is these friend requests. How to determine if they are the genuine thing or just another scam or hacker? If I don't know the person at all I don't accept the friend request. That is my first reaction. I may ask some of my "real" friends if they know the person, do a little sleuthing, and make a judgement on that. I'm just naturally suspicious of anyone asking to be my friend. I don't believe I have ever asked anyone to be my friend, they either became a friend or they didn't. Of course, that was in the real world not cyber space. I get that they are totally different environments. But then they are those that are/were my friends and I get another request from them. It could very well be legit, I've had to open a new account myself, forgotten passwords and had to start over. Still, I hesitate to accept that because, you guessed it, the hackers are out there and are clever. I'll have to wait to confirm this request as well. It's enough to make a person paranoid.

  You also to be wary of the Facebook police. They seem to have backed off a bit in recent months for whatever reason. I used to be placed in jail and receive warnings fairly regularly but not lately. I suspect I'm still on the watch list though, flagged in some fashion. I also think it will swing back the other way the closer we get to the election. You have to be careful of being influenced you know and that is what those censors were doing, protecting you! Yes, the Russians and the republicans were trying to influence the vote. It's fine though, I'll be careful. You have to fact check the fact checkers to see if they are really checking the facts or just attempting to influence you. The facts themselves could be the culprit! You could decide that socialism isn't a good thing. And what if you thought American citizens should come first, even before the illegals? Can't have that. But you'll be safe if you don't use the "trigger" words. If you are a conservative minded individual, you have to learn how to change the words to mean something else. Now you can write LGBTQ+ that's fine. Just don't write the word queer. Or use the word queer. Well unless you are, what I can't say, then it's fine. It's like saying you identify as whatever. You can't say, "I'm a guy that thinks I'm a girl", but you can identify yourself that way. In the first instance that would be admitting to a mental disorder but identifying yourself that way is not. See how that works? If you have any problems with any of that, problem with your image or whatever you can always hire an influencer! Yup, that's a job these days too. But you're not supposed to be influenced by the influencers while they are being paid to influence you. I know. Social media problems.