We All Stalk

We all do it. (Don’t even try to lie and say you have never done it.) 

We turn to social media to look up those people from our past. We want to see what they have been up to. Are they ugly now? Maybe they turned out as miserable as you secretly hoped they would. Perhaps you can look at their profile and scoff- you know they are not nearly as happy as they are trying to make it seem. 

Let’s be honest. We have no idea what someone is actually experiencing by stalking their Facebook page. It’s simply a glimpse. Not even an accurate one. So, why do we do it? What are we hoping to achieve? Is it simply morbid curiousity? Would we stalk if it was not as simple as whipping out our magic smart phone? 

I imagine (or at least hope) the answer is no. We do it because it takes very little effort and there is very little risk. (Unless we accidentally like one of their posts or photos.) 

After we have perused their “life” we may even indulge in a dangerous game of “what if…” What if so and so had not done that thing? What if I had not been so selfish? What would life be like now? 

We sit and relive the pain of losing the relationship, friendship, job, or whatever it was. We may use it as an excuse to reignite old resentments.  

Is it better to have a current selfie image for our overactive imaginations? Is there any justification for our nosiness? Probably not. 

There really does not seem to be any useful information that comes from Facebook stalking, but I bet we will all fall prey to the temptation from time to time.

I’m not judging. Just make sure you don’t comment or like anything. Also, make sure you don’t start talking about the person incessantly to your friends. They will think you are crazy. I’m not even going to recommend you abstain from the behavior. 

I would advise you to try to avoid dwelling on the past too much. Don’t go reading your old diaries to reminisce. Your time is more valuable than that. Try to focus on what you have now. We can’t change the past. Oh, and yes. They have aged badly. You are so much better off.