Why I rarely post to Facebook

I made a Facebook specifically to keep in touch with students. Same with MySpace before then. My view was and is that students feel comfortable communicating in different ways than I do, so whatever facilitates their comfort is okay by me. I accept friend requests, but I don't generally make them.  Teachers are often told to avoid Facebook, and I've even been specifically told to delete it by a colleague. The thing is, since I've always viewed it as primarily a place to keep in touch with students and former students, I don't post embarrassing stuff. I hardly post at all, actually, even though more of my "friends" are non-student friends now. Keeping in touch with friends is a nice extra, in my opinion. 

Since I've moved to the UK, I no longer accept friend requests from current students. It's against the rules of my school, so I respect that. Still, my view on posting has not changed. I don't think most of my thoughts need to be shared with the world. I'm talkative with close friends, too much so, I'm sure, but I rarely think to myself "this is an interesting/necessary piece of information that I must share with everyone I know." When I browse my news feed, I would love to say it is full of important or very interesting information, but it is not. More often, I think "Why do I need to know this?", "ugh, gag me with a spoon," or "oh, stop whining." I dread causing those thoughts in other people. 

When I've responded to other folks' posts, it rarely goes well. It seems people often want to complain loudly without talking about it. I've had too many experiences of responding to "omg, I feel so *insert feeling*" with "what's going on?" only to get "I don't want to talk about it" in response. When I think something might invite discussion, I usually find that the discussion doesn't last long before someone compares something they don't like to the nazis, if it didn't start there already. When people just brag about their exercise habits or significant others, I just leave that alone entirely. 

I also don't post thoughts and prayers when tragedies happen. Prayers and thoughts mean nothing in a status update. If I'm thinking of someone that much, I'll call them and see how they're holding up. If someone loses a loved one, I find it hard to believe they're checking their news feed to see how many thoughts and prayers they're receiving, nor noting who is withholding thoughts and prayers and thinking "that stingy bastard." In my view, "sending my thoughts and prayers" translates as "I know bad stuff happened, but don't forget how thoughtful I am!" 

I don't mind checking in when I'm traveling or sharing a mildly interesting anecdote, but facebook is not a place for my innermost thoughts. My blog is different. It's longer. If you made it this far, you obviously care about what I'm thinking, and it doesn't appear in your news feed unless you really care what I generally think. If that is the case, my thoughts and prayers are with you always.