Obsessed with the profile picture. That's what many of us are. On Facebook.
There's this my friend, who changes her picture every week. Thirty comments follow. She looks nice for her forty plus age. Still trim, well dressed.
I watch other pictures. A picture's worth a thousand words, they say. I try to visualize what the person's really like. The fellow surrounded by a gang of his buddies. Is he an extrovert? Or just pretending to be. The girl with the beautiful smile? Trying to hook some easy guy? Well, I'm not sure.
But there's so much you could learn by just looking at their picture. The couple with arms around each other perhaps want no intrusion into their privacy. The fellow posing near his awesome car, in front of his huge mansion needs no more introduction. Its all about showing off. That's FB for you.
Some guys are outright funny. I laugh when I see this guy with a pillow on his head. His profile picture. He's not changed it for years. I plead with him. He laughs. He's my nephew. My older son comes a close second. He makes the weirdest faces for Face book. His friends love it. "Wait till your future employer gets to see this," his dad warns.
Obsessed with comments. That's what FB reduces us to be. Most of them are "Wow", "So cute" and so on. While some can get nasty. My friend does that often. In a private message. "You look like someone punched you in the face."
I felt like doing it to him then.
He'd then advise me to do this Ayurvedic routine and that. And all the while I thought I looked fabulous. He punched a hole in my vanity bag for sure. "Do something about the dark circles". "Didn't you dry your hair after bath?" I was getting sick already.
"Please can't I be just myself?" I want to cry hoarse. I put up one I thought was my best, expecting to hear some good comments. Sure there were few. Then my friend who came visiting remarked, "Your expression was intense". She didn't elaborate. So then how's it supposed to be? Do I need to look like a moron and get laughed at?
This profile picture business is sure getting on my nerves. I admire some guys who've left it blank all their lives. They are the puzzlers. Adept at keeping us wondering.
I wish I could do that too.
