Sense and Sensibilities

A couple of days ago, Sparta was skimming facebook when he came across a rather cryptic status update from one of his contacts that read simply: "grief." She had also posted a photo of one of Sparta's friends from university as her profile picture.

After making several phone calls and urgently searching the internet for any clues as to what this could mean, Sparta discovered that his friend had indeed passed away.

Obviously there is no easy way to hear news like that and I know I've appreciated the convenience of having details of the time and place of a memorial service included on a separate page dedicated to the person.

However, I'll admit I can't help but cringe a little when news of someone's death or how a person feels about that death is delivered via the same 140 character box from whence 20 minutes later will be broadcast the details of said boadcaster's hangover, their love for kittens or OMG how they are totes bloated and gross from too many cheetos.

I know it's unfair for me to judge people for expressing their devastation when, where or however they see fit, and I guess it's funny that this kind of thing bothers me more than the photos of acquaintances in various states of undress, intoxication or borderline illegal activity which most of us are desensitized to at this point.

But even though I'm clearly having a hard time pinpointing exactly what bothers me about the subject, it undeniably makes my admittedly delicate sensibilities grumble.

I think what really got me about this particular case was the vague reference leaving other people confused and worried.

I have several contacts whose status updates I can't stand to read because so many of them often similarly leave some vague message or emotion which they are clearly hoping to be questioned about.

Feel free to tell me if I'm being old fashioned or ridiculous, and believe me, I do realize this viewpoint might be completely hypocritical coming from someone who writes down her feelings in a blog, no less, but I can't be the only one who feels a little, I don't know, squidgy? about this kind of thing, can I? Maybe I just need to be a little less judgmental.

What say you, blogfriends? Am I crazy, or does this leave anyone else with a bad taste?