Dislike

Writing for this blog is a struggle far more often than it is a breeze, and for more reasons than my moribund base of readership. I relatively seldom seem to seize upon a subject that has me racing to keep up with the thoughts I wish to commit to writing. Today is one of those days that I have come up with something, although it is not one of the even rarer days that I choose to write about something topical. One out of two ain't bad, as Meatloaf might say.

Ever since Facebook introduced the "Like" feature, I have not cared for it. I don't like the fact that there is no complimentary "Dislike". You are left with the binary options of "liking" someone's post or implying by your silence that you do not like the post. I find that unsatisfying, and I know I'm not alone on that. Plenty of people say, if only in jest, that they would like a "Dislike" option for sad or infuriating posts. I know I would like that.

I also like the easy out that it provides. In many ways, people now choose to communicate as little as they can, although they might frame it as a matter of communicating in a convenient fashion. People text more than they call, and much information is lost that way. I almost always feel that the people I care about deserve more from me than a bare statement of liking something, and so I expend the effort to share a few words in order to provide a more satisfying statement.

I seem to be an exception on that point, because most people seem to feel that it's enough to "Like" except in situations that rise to a rather high threshold of significance. I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry that no one leaves voice mails, let alone writes letters or even very thorough emails. It's a wonder to me that anyone finds out anything from anyone these days, so little effort does there seem to be in human communication, and you're reading that from someone diagnosed with a condition inhibiting communication. Go figure.