Thursday, March 26, 2009

The Real Housewives of Facebook

This should probably be titled "My Digital Friends, Volume IV," but the real housewives total came to me when I was running yesterday, and I just couldn't help myself. 

So of my 387 facebook friends, there are probably 20 or so that are stay at home moms (SAHMs). A couple of these are family members. I promise this post isn't about you. Hopefully that'll stop my sister from being mad at me. Most of my SAHM friends are from high school or college who have recently followed the traditional progression of: graduated from school, got married, had kid, stay at home and raise kid. The new last step in this progression is apparently "spend all of my time on facebook." Stay at home moms are great people, and they have the hardest job in the world (other than coal miners, probably) but I know this much is true:

Stay at home moms are the worst facebook friends. Ever.

Most of this revolves around the status update. Specifically:

They Update Their Status All the time: I expect status updates at specific times of the day: Early risers update their status in the morning. 8-5ers update their status after lunch (something like "back in the office and ready for a nap") and then there are the ready to leave work, and just got home from work status updates. Finally, there are the 'I have nothing better to do tonight so I'll update my facebook status' updates. With SAHMs, they just update their status all day. Now I only know this because I'm on Facebook all day, but it's damn annoying.

They Update Their Status with Stuff that Doesn't Interest Me: I go onto Facebook to be entertained. This does not happen with your SAHM friends. You get Facebook status updates like:

"Life is good when [insert rugrat name] sleeps through the night"
"Shopping for Minivans, and recommendations?"
"Taking [rugrat] to Target. He's still trying to get over his cold. Darn that daycare"
"What does it mean when [rugrat] has green spitup?"

Again, I'm looking for an enjoyable distraction with my facebook status updates. I'm looking for an obscure movie quote or song lyric, or some interesting detail of your life. Maybe even something unintentionally funny after being overserved on a Friday or Saturday night.  Not this mom stuff about minivans or gerber products.

Their Mom Friends have Full Conversations on Facebook: So I usually judge Facebook status updates based on two criteria: 1. Does it make me laugh, 2. Did lots of other people comment on it. Usually these two are pretty consistent. If I find something funny or entertaining, I'm probably not alone. With my SAHM friends, they post the lamest status updates (see examples above) yet still get a handful of responses that are just as lame. It's like there is this vast network of moms on facebook that go from watching noggin to hitting refresh on their computer to commenting on their status and then repeat. Oh, and I know I could call them a Momtourage, but I really don't want that term to takeoff, so I'm not going to use it. Damn, I guess I just did. So if some SAHM asks for input about a minivan, there will be five recommendations up there an hour later. Maybe I'm just jealous, who knows. 

I think it all comes back to my fear that one day all of the cool kids are going to wake up and realize that everyone is using facebook, and then they'll close out their accounts and start doing something else instead. Then it'll just be me and the SAHMs left on Facebook and my only entertainment will be status updates about the Honda Odessey and Go Diego Go. 

8 comments:

Amber said...

LMAO! This is so true! And I thought I just had crazy friends. SAHM are the worst FB freinds! the one about so and so had a good night sleep made me LOL!I saw an update the other day about so so's kid was celebrating their half birthday. What's next quarter bdays?

Anonymous said...

i just spit balsamic dressing on my keyboard..as someone who has been on the book for a long time, back when it was 'college' only - i definitely get it..why do i care what my 1 yr old cousin is having for post nap snack or that my aunt is finally ready for a beer because shes sleeping..if there was a way to 'dislike' things on bfook it would ber SAHM'S status'.

Nate said...

Amber - I'm glad you agree. Half birthdays should be banned.

Audrey - Next time your SAHM friends do a stupid status update, I think you should comment with "I just spit balsamic dressing on my keyboard". They won't get it, but maybe they'll think twice about posting a dumb status the next time.

A@ Please Don't Eat Me! said...

Nate - crazy funny! so true!

Frightening Suburban Housewife Facebook Status said...

I was googling to find some more entries for my blog and I stumbled across your entry. Hilarious! Check out my blog! We should join forces. :-) http://frighteninghousewife.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

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