Facebook Etiquette - What to do when you don't care.

This is the first in a series called Facebook Etiquette.

Today's topic is about not caring. Not caring is an inevitability when you are on Facebook. In my experience, everyone including my incredibly interesting self, has posted something dull on their status update. "I just ate a sandwich." Great. "Bored." I bet. "It's sunny today." Yeeep. These boring statements just happen. Furthermore, I see plenty of links that I have no interest in clicking, and I'm sure I share some that you don't want to see. But this isn't a post about being a better poster, its about being a better facebook listener.

When you find yourself in the sticky situation of not caring, the solution is really simple. Ignore it. Don't comment. Don't reply. Don't say you don't care. Because when you exert enough effort to say "I am not interested in what you are saying" you look like you actually care just enough to say something. And that makes you look like a complete turd.

Another situation where this might come up is when everyone you know on Facebook suddenly posts with great interest about something you care nothing about. A big event is usually the cause. "HARRY POTTER 19 IS OUT!" all your friends exclaim. "Congrats to Kate and Will!" Or maybe one day, overnight, everyone you know starts talking about something called a "Jimmer." It's natural to feel annoyed that there's nothing good to read on Facebook because everyone around you cares about something that you do not care about. But going on the offense and making a status about how you don't care about the big thing just makes you look silly. Because it shows you care just enough to say it. I've seen many such statuses. And they usually end with a huffy, "There. I said it."

Facebook is not a world that demands your candid feedback for every little thing. Imagine such a world. Ricky Gervais did in the Invention of Lying. And that movie sucked. It's like if one of your Facebook acquaintances wrote on your wall to say "I don't care that it's your birthday." Or if I went out of my way to tell you that your link was not interesting to me.

This is not to say that you should never respond negatively. If one my friends argued that Obama's birth certificate is fake, I'd probably get into a debate. (Not that there's any debate that the birthers should pipe down.) Facebook should be a forum for discussion and healthy argument. Fight your friends. Argue with them. Applaud them. Cheer them on. Joke with them.

But please don't tell them you don't care about them.