If a tree falls in the woods...

2 hours ago

I'm sure we have all heard that saying I referenced in the title. If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, does it make a sound? Something to that effect anyway. I think there are various iterations of it that have been embellished and transformed over the decades? Centuries? With that in mind, and the recent passing of my birthday, I have come up with a new one.

"If you birthday doesn't trend on your Facebook page, did it really happen?"

Sadly, I spent an insane amount of time last night not sleeping thinking about that. Okay, not exactly that, but as I said, I was having trouble falling asleep last night. I had just finished my latest paperback book and after reading another couple chapters in my current Kindle book I thought I was ready to shut my brain down for the night.

My brain had other plans.

I can't tell you why, but I suddenly started thinking about my birthday again and the post @mrsbozz made to commemorate it. It's interesting, but I have noticed over the years her page gets much more engagement than mine does. For example, I got maybe five posts on my page saying happy birthday. On the flip side, my wife got dozens of comments on her post. They were all directed at me, so I appreciate them, but it still feels a bit artificial. Why not say happy birthday directly to me?

It's trivial I know, but it's just one of those insecurities that rattles around in your brain. Then I started thinking about the people who said nothing. No messages on my page, no comments on her post. It's one of those things where you wonder if you did something wrong or if time has just created a chasm.

Personally, at least with my close friends, I try to reach out to them directly on their birthdays. Sure, I write stuff on Facebook too, but for me, that extra text message or phone call means just a little bit more. It's more of a proactive thing versus a reactive thing. I guess whatever makes me feel better right?

Ultimately, my favorite messages telling me happy birthday came from the family group text that I have with my inlaws. It's always a bit special to see the love that they have for me.

Trust me, I know that social media is a cesspool. It's not like I am wishing that more people had shallowly wished me happy birthday on Facebook, but I can't help but think about how I allow that to take up space in my head.

For me, I hope at least, that single night of lost sleep and this post today will be the end of it, but for many people, they don't have that luxury. Social media has become so pervasive and important to them that they live and sadly sometimes die by it.

This morning I was thinking about writing this post and I started to realize that I think I got more direct "happy birthdays" on HIVE than I did on Facebook.

Which actually made me think of these memes I have seen in the past:

I guess that kind of goes both ways though doesn't it. Which again just highlights the importance of those real life interactions. I never see a majority of the people I am friends with on Facebook, so why would I expect them to care about my birthday. It's not like there is any real feeling or emotion behind them typing up the words.

There might be for some of them, but you know who those people are, which again makes most of what is said on Facebook irrelevant. Right?

I don't know, I guess I am just in a contemplative mood this morning. Which would be the main reason I threw this post in the #reflections community. Trust me, I appreciate the idea of having a few close friends versus having a ton of superficial ones. However, at an ego level, you can't help but feel a little pang of sadness? Hurt? Disappointment? When you realize you have been overlooked.