Ads for masks

Ads for masks--- another reason to perpetuate my ongoing love/hate relationship with Facebook. I suffer FB to keep up with distant friends and family. Occasional social media rants in my column are nothing new. I’ve had some Facebook “friends” with too much time on their hands, too many/ too frequent “exciting” posts--- like where they had coffee or what they cooked/ ate. Or posts like, “I just made muffins”! I just can’t un-see that one. I’m not insensitive--- but there’s not always time to care deeply. I don’t “unfriend” them. I “hide” them--- to avoid being inundated with a continuous stream of inane posts.

I felt like Radar O’Reilly on M.A.S.H.--- “Incoming, incoming” all the time. It was just too much. I had to extricate myself from the life-sucking commitment to continually view the streaming minutiae of certain other lives--- and they never knew they were hidden. No hurt feelings. Win/win.

I try to limit my “foodie posts” to big things like making bread, wine or jelly. ---Or that amazing lift of meringue on a particularly notable pie I’ve never been able to recreate. That one was a stunner. I expect the planets aligned perfectly and I held my mouth just right. This is not like the cousin who for years posted weekly pictures of every restaurant meal consumed--- which she obviously did way too often.

I learned not to check “like” on forwarded, public posts--- politics, jokes, quizzes, and the heart-wrenching sob stories of strangers. Turns out many of those were manufactured solely to encourage responses. Some creep can actually steal a picture--- from a legitimate FB post, stock photo or another source--- of a child in a hospital bed or whatever, make up a tear-jerker story, and challenge, “I know you won’t share this”. And of course, many people do. Don’t.

It’s called “like farming”. If a post garners enough likes and goes viral, the author sells it to someone who attaches an ad or uses names of respondents to target for other purposes. If you visit a provided link, it’s called “click bait”. This targets you as susceptible, adding you to lists that insure you’ll receive ads and other things ad infinitum, pun intended--- hoping to separate you from your money. Those lists are often sold to companies without your best interests at heart. Vast understatement. Don’t fall victim!!! Google for more info!

Another FB pet peeve--- the posts that told me where my “friends” had “checked in”. Like I cared. I mean, sometimes I actually did. But not often. I barely knew some of these people. After a high school reunion, lots of folks made FB friend requests of old classmates happily forgotten for decades. Some you want to catch up with. Others not so much. Some you simply don’t remember or never even knew. The latter I ignored. Not wishing to be rude, I did accept some friend requests. And suddenly there they are, posting that they’d made muffins. Or that they checked into the Taj Mahal, having a wonderful time--- implying that I wasn’t. It got so old. Those sorts of posts were like, “Look where I am--- and you’re not”. These cluttered my page, my life and my time. As necessary, I was ruthless. I hid ‘em.

We didn’t know how good we had it back then--- before the relentless ads/ political stuff/rude comments hit Facebook. Plenty of click bait there. Lately it’s been all about masks, which I highly prefer to politics. Just because I clicked on one or two ads, I’ve been inundated with others. Should have known better.

I haven’t found time to make masks, although I’ve gathered supplies--- needed some extras for physical therapy. I bought five from a company on FB. And just like that I became a target. Every day, mask companies populate in my FB feed. I can’t escape them. Some look good. Others are obviously inferior and/or may not arrive for months. Scams abound. Check reviews! If product ads mention USA, it can be misleading--- may ship from the US, but are probably made in Wuhan, China. Do I really want to breathe through something arriving from the birthplace of CoVid-19? Conspiracy theorists would argue this is yet another way to kill us.

During an Asian trip in my twenties, there were people--- with colds --- wearing masks. It looked odd, but certainly seemed considerate. I’d never have imagined the face mask would become de-rigueur here, a premier fashion statement in 2020. I wear them to protect all of you!