Throughout the several years of using Facebook, I saw so many things Facebook can do to relationships. Facebook is like a double-edged sword : you can use it to your benefit or you can allow it to ruin your mood/reputation/life.
Currently my Facebook is not as "intimate" as it used to be where only REAL friends and relatives know what's going on in my life. Afraid of being labelled a snob or "sombong" and not wanting to hurt or belittle others, a lot of time I have to accept acquaintances "adding friends" to my FB friends list although we don't really interact. A lot of "friends" in my Facebook list are actually acquaintances that will probably sit next to me in a restaurant but don't recognise me at all because we only met once or twice long time ago.
Because of this I have stopped posting private status that gives hints about my life. I become like a celebrity who has to take care of her reputation. I even put a nice picture of myself (with make up on) in my profile which doesn't look like me at all. Some "friends" were shocked when they see me in real life.
I may look like this on my Facebook picture:
But in real life, I look very much like this:
(....hahahahaha... I wish....;)
Thanks to Facebook.... millions of ordinary people get chances to feel like celebrities, show off picture perfect photos for people to see and being "checked out" regularly like Hollywood actors.
In this post, I am not going to tell you how to handle paparazzi or how to pose perfectly on your Profile Picture or what to post on your status (to make your friends envious).
One of the reasons I write this post is because I had friends whose lives had been altered tremendously because of Facebook.
Friend # 1:
Single beautiful woman who needed a friend ended up being poorer $3,000 from helping out her "Facebook boyfriend" who "lost" his wallet while dating her. He needed to go back to "his home country" immediately because his mother was sick when someone "stole" his purse in one of their romantic diners. Being a good person, she "lent" her money to buy airplane ticket and pay for the hotel bill. The only thing is : she never saw the airplane ticket nor heard from him ever again.
She couldn't do anything else other than doing this:
Friend #2:
A woman met her old friend from high school. Both have been married for more than 10 years and have kids. One day the woman had a fight with her husband and at the same time the husband was tired of his nagging wife. Both confided in each other thru the Facebook inbox. After months of exchanging messages in the inbox, they became "very close friends". The cupid was very naughty and shot his arrows. They fell in love and had an "online and telephone affair". Some say it's not really an affair because they don't really meet and "do" it.
I looked up at some dictionaries and found out that an affair means a romantic relationship, sometimes one of brief duration, between two people who are not married to each other.
Although they never met, they had behaved differently towards their spouses. Their changes of behaviours created some suspicions from their spouses. After awhile their spouses found out about their relationship.
Needless to say, things became chaotic and stressful. While neither of them leaves their marriages, the relationship between husbands and wives has been negatively effected and the children, as always, became the victims.
Friend #3:
A single young woman looking for a rich husband. She was approached by a "perfect" gentleman who swept her feet by his charming look, lifestyle and sweet words. After a few months exchanging hundreds of love messages, sms's and phone calls, they decided to "get married". They never met in real life. Her parents were "informed" about her decision to go to his country and marry him over there. Her parents felt suspicious and reminded her it could be dangerous. She was offended and mad for not being allowed to get married with the man she loved. She thought she was old enough to make her own decision. She was adamant about her wedding plan. She would go and get married even without her parents's consent. Her parents were so upset that they disowned her.
She withdrew her saving to make a passport, buy an airplane ticket and a wedding gown. A few days before departure, a lady from custom department called her that she had a package addressed for her. The custom could not release the goods because they found out that the goods worth more than U$40,000. The package contained gold and diamond jewelleries from a man from Canada. Her boyfriend name was listed as the sender. When she called her boyfriend, he said he wanted to give her a surprise gift as a token of love. He wanted her to wear those jewelleries when she meets him later. She was elated and touched on how "perfect" he was. The custom department called her again telling her that she needed to pay tax of RM10,000 to release the goods.
She withdrew some money and transferred it to the "custom department's personnel bank account".
Right after she made the transfer, she never heard anything from her perfect boyfriend anymore. His phone number was not active and his Facebook account was closed down. She was left with RM10,000 poorer, a useless wedding gown, a non-refundable airplane ticket and guilt/shame towards her parents.
Most of the victims I know are women... But I do wonder if there are male victims as well..
If you ever encounter any man who is too perfect to be true.. please beware.... (it may be your husband testing you..!!)
Happy Facebooking and have a great weekend..!!
PS : My husband doesn't have and refuse to have any Facebook account. Initially I thought he was a bit "technologically challenged" but now I think he just can't handle paparazzi as well as his wife...;)
all images are courtesy of http://freeditigalphotos.net
