I don’t normally comment on social media topics because enough people out there–perhaps too many–are already doing it. For whatever reason, this time I feel compelled to jump into the fray. What set me off? Facebook.

WAIT! Don’t stop reading! This isn’t what you think. I’m not going to pick a side in the current uproar over the merits of the recent changes to Facebook. In fact, I’m sitting here shaking my head and chuckling that there’s even a debate at all.

I’m a regular user of social media in several of its forms. I like the access it offers, I enjoy the connections I make, and in some ways it even serves as a sort of anti-aging balm for me. I say this simply to underscore that I’m not a hater. I love social media–in its place.

That’s why I’m chuckling. Somehow, the groundswell that occurs each time something changes with Facebook (among others) has gotten way out of control. Seriously, some people make it sound as if their lives are ruined. We need to keep things in perspective, and I don’t think I could sum it up better than a 13-year-old friend did. Here’s his tongue-in-cheek status update from yesterday:

It just appalls me that the free social service that I am in no way obligated to use keeps making small changes that bring me minor inconvenience.

Bravo, Ev! I couldn’t have said it better myself.

And while I’m on perspective and social media, check out my current favorite commercial. In the grand scheme of things, we shouldn’t forget that social media–Facebook, You Tube, Google+, blogs, whatever–is intended to enhance our lives, not become our lives.