"Happy Birthdays" on Facebook
 

As a preface, it's my birthday, but I don't really make a big deal of such things. So don't feel like you should wish me a happy birthday in this thread. In fact, please don't, as it kind of proves my point. Also, those of you who actually are friends with me on there and have done so shouldn't feel bad about it. My thread is about the phenomenon much more than any individual's actions.

As the day has gone on, I've grown increasingly bitter about all of the "happy birthday" posts I've gotten on Facebook. Way back in the olden days, if someone cared about you enough to wish you a happy birthday, they had to make you a card or write a letter and send it to you. Or perhaps make a phone call. Then Hallmark came along, and suddenly people could send you a card without having to put much more thought into it than picking a card they liked. With the advent of email, it became easier to just bop someone a quick message on their birthday, but at least that still took a little thought.

Facebook, to me, has made the entire act of wishing people happy birthday a completely mindless and impersonal activity. All someone has to do is glance to the side of their screen and see the list of birthdays, then spend 5 seconds posting "happy birthday" or some other nonsense. It takes more effort and thought to take a crap than it does to wish someone a happy birthday on Facebook.

I don't really care when it comes down to it, but what bugs me is that people come out of the woodwork who you NEVER talk to that want to wish you a happy birthday. A girl I went to HIGH SCHOOL with, didn't like at the time, and haven't spoken to in about 12 years, posted happy birthday on my wall.

I'm not a heavy user of Facebook - I mainly use it to stalk people and occasionally post pictures of things I've got going on. But I'd estimate that the quantity of "happy birthday" posts on my wall today is higher than the total number of posts that I've had on there in the past year. It's stupid.

I don't really have a point to all of this, and I'm probably just bitter. I just wish that, if people really cared enough, they'd put out a little effort. If they don't, then don't worry about it.

So I guess the basic idea is...Facebook sucks. The end.

[/rant]

****. People wouldn't even know if Facebook didn't "remind" them, and by "remind" them, I mean tell them in the first place.

Oh, and I wished you a happy birthday on Facebook first. :D

So are you going to bring back tags or what?

That's kind of my point. If people don't know it was my birthday before Facebook told you, then they didn't care enough to put out the effort in the first place.

And thanks for the birthday wishes! :rolleyes: :p

ROFL I'm just fulfilling my end of the social contract. Seriously though, you need a steak and a blow job. You'll feel better. :D

I wouldn't have wished you Happy Birthday in the first place if it wasn't for Facebook so actually you should feel better.

Happy birthday, DaFace!

:mad:

TAKE TOMORROW OFF!

Who gives a shit?

LMAO We do Guru! It saves us money on birthday cards! :p

That was for Daface. :p

Facebook does not bring people more meaningful human interaction.

This whole thread has me making Guru's avatar face.

I don't like the Facebook birthday thing because it feels forced. I'll see that someone has a birthday and then a bunch of people will say, "Happy Birthday!" and I'll feel like I'm a jerk if I don't type "Happy Birthday!", so I go on there and type it and then feel annoyed by doing it out of obligation.

But my birthday was last month and it was my first birthday since joining Facebook and I found myself anxiously awaiting what would happen. Would people wish me a happy birthday? How many? Would they be just as annoyed? And my birthday came and went and not a single person wished me happy birthday and then I felt kind of bad about it because these are supposedly my Facebook friends and f**k them all if they can't get on there and type "Happy Birthday!" to me once a year. I mean, really. Not a single person? I'm not that unpopular, am I? And I thought that, well, maybe if nobody really likes me and they just friended me out of obligation maybe I should just defriend them and end the charade and I'll just have my birthday party with my wife and my cat and screw all of these worthless two-faced people who call me a friend and then won't wish me a happy birthday. And then I realized that my Facebook profile was set to not show my birthday.