One of my friends is a bit annoyed with me at the moment. I might take this a bit more seriously if the reason wasn’t so silly: she’s annoyed because when I was ill with gastroenteritis for four days the week before last, I didn’t respond to her texts or emails.
The fact that I was barely able to hold any food down, or leave the sanctuary of the bathroom, or eat, or that I went to bed at 8.45pm last Saturday (unheard of) seems to have totally escaped her. So I’m going to wait that one out until she comes to her senses.
But it has got me thinking about how personally I take other people’s behaviour sometimes – particularly online, which is even more silly if you think about it – and made me resolve not to be quite so sensitive, because you never know what other people have got going on in their lives.
Recently there has been a lot of conversation in the parent blogosphere about people feeling ignored, or that there’s a ‘them’ and ‘us’. Sometimes you might read a post and think ‘she’s talking about ME’ – I know I’ve done that myself – but the chances are they’re probably not. (Or maybe they are, but hey, who cares? At least you’re being talked about.)
I've also been sent messages by people who are upset because I'm not following them on twitter (purely due to oversight in most cases) and facebook requests I haven't had the chance to respond to because I don't recognise the name.
So… maybe it's time to lighten up. I think that what we all have to remember is that everyone has busy lives with our families and work, and that social networking, although incredibly important to many of us (myself included), isn’t the be all and end all. Real life is much more important. And if my friend is reading this – I love you, I couldn't help being sick, stop being so blimmin' silly.
*What do you think? I'd love to hear your views
written by Liz Jarvis