People Don’t Like Changes On Facebook

Stage 2 Anger

Over the past few days, Facebook has been changing the way they look.   In their never ending quest for improvement, the minds behind the site have changed the way your facebook page looks when you visit it and it is quite a bit different than it used to be.   People seem to be very upset about this, and I am trying to understand why.   Here is what I have come up with and a little advice to help you all survive.

Change Facebook, makes people worry!

Any change of any kind makes people feel worried about life and what is going to happen.  Even if the changes over time prove to be beneficial and good for you, the initial change is a factor that people don’t like at all.   If Facebook can change, and isn’t a steady, reliable influence in my life, what else that I rely on won’t come through either?  It really is a wonder that a website, that none of us had never heard of, let alone conceived a concept about seven years ago, now can cause world wide angst by changing their format.   Don’t worry, it is just a website, you will adapt.  Humans have been adapting to changing conditions for thousands of years, I think we can handle the changes that Facebook throws our way.

If I Can’t Control Facebook, then……

I think many people feel like they have experienced a lack of control.  Facebook was one thing one day and another thing the next.  At least that is how it appears.  The feelings of control are something that all people need to experience, and feeling like you lost control over anything can be a frightening experience.   It seems like many people immediately just lash out at the perceived cause of this and since it makes us uncomfortable, it must be bad.   Nobody can tell me with any assurance that the new Facebook format isn’t a better way to communicate and/or enjoy Facebook.  Like anything else in life, you have to at least try it before you condemn it.    I say again, Facebook is just a website, if you let a website make you mad or frustrate you, well….you need to rethink things.  A website doesn’t have any feelings or a mind.  Don’t allow yourself to be manipulated by a mindless entity with no feelings.  You can’t control the weather, you can’t control the sunrise, you can’t control the sunset, and you can’t control Facebook.  None of these fact can stop you from having a good life.   Let go of the control, you will be happier.  Control is just an illusion anyway.

How to Change Your Facebook Back!

Now even though there are changes to Facebook, it appears you can make your experience much like it used to be, pretty easily.  On the left of your browser there is a list feature.  Click it to add a new list.  Then you name this list whatever you want.  Then add all of your friends to it and viola’, you have the ability to see what everyone you know is up to again.  When you visit your page just click the list you made and you will see everybody.  I did this to see how easy it was, and it took about five minutes.  I learned about how to do this on Facebook, and well, Facebook wouldn’t lie to me, would it?  Whoops, I forgot Facebook is an emotionless, mindless website, that doesn’t care if I believe it or not.  You can choose to believe this if you wish.

Accept The Changes in Facebook and Move On

With any loss in life, psychologist state that we must go through the stages of grieving.  I remember that there are five and I guess they do apply here according to what I am seeing on my new fangled Facebook wall.

Stage 1 Denial-  People do a double take, look at their page, see it’s different, think it must just be them.  Reload the page to see if it goes back to the way it was before.  No that didn’t work, start to pretend nothing has changed and everything will be alright.

Stage 2 Anger-  Most people appear to be in this stage, as I have not had a hard time finding angry messages directed at Facebook.  It “Sucks”, “Stinks”, “is an afront to God”,  just a lot of angry people out there.  My favorite comment so far,   ”I hate fb, so I joined Google+. If you want to be part of my internet life, find me there. ” .  Great sentiment, there is also a facebook page,    We Hate The New FB, so STOP Changing It ,

you can visit these fine people and vent all of your anger.  In the end, I hope you feel better.  Facebook is a mindless website without a soul or feelings, so make all the pages you want and do whatever you want, Facebook isn’t going to care.

Stage 3 Bargaining-  This stage you will start to look at the new Facebook and weigh the pros and cons, there may be some benefits here that you didn’t initially see or understand.  I will try to reset my lists, and if I do this then maybe Facebook will never change again.  We become lost in a maze of “If only…” or “What if…” statements.  That is a nice sentiment, but as we already know Facebook is just a website without a mind, a heart, a soul or any feelings.  It will change and won’t care how it effects your life, but keep on moving through the stages of loss and you will find acceptance in the end.  You can’t bargain with Facebook.

Stage 4 Depression-  Empty feelings present themselves, and grief enters our lives on a deeper level, deeper than we ever imagined.  At this point you are going to feel low about the changes that have happened to your facebook page.  What does it matter how many friends you have?  Why bother sharing witty phrases?  Why bother to try to inspire someone with a great quote?  What is the point?  This will be the dangerous part of this journey, you might do something drastic like delete your Facebook account and see what life is like without it.  Be careful here, Facebook will be extremely upset with you if you do this………….Wait I forgot, Facebook is just a website, without a mind or a soul.  It doesn’t think and therefore will not care if you leave it forever or not.  Be careful though, it would be a pain in the butt to explain to all of your “friends”, why you deleted them and now want them back.  Easier to take a break and get your thoughts together.

Stage 5 Acceptance- Acceptance is often confused with the notion of being “all right” or “OK” with what has happened.  You don’t have to be Ok with Facebook, just understand that the old Facebook is gone and isn’t coming back.  Now finally, you have gone through all of the stages and you are ready to move on with your life, regardless of what Facebook decides to do.  You bravely decide that you are going to be happy and do things and Facebook can either like your actions or move on and make more changes.  Your not going to let Facebook dictate what you share and who you share it with.  You are going to be friends with whomever you want and not worry about what a silly website is doing with it’s formatting and presentation.  You understand that all changes in Facebook programming and all of the people behind the scenes are all golden links in the chain of your existence and it will all be fine.

Nice job, we really have done some great work here working on accepting this Facebook change problem, we are ready for life.  Until the next changes come.