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ONE OF THE INANITIES “trending” on my Facebook page this morning is the fact that country singer Carrie Underwood has shared a video of her 17-month-old son belly-flopping into a swimming pool. Several thoughts came to mind immediately: First, who is Carrie Underwood? Second, should a veritable infant be belly-flopping into a body of water? And last, if my baby belly-flopped into a body of water, would I tell the world? (My answers are “I’m not sure,” “No,” and “Certainly not.”)
You may ask, “What does trending mean, anyway?” Of course we all know the word’s original meaning, but nowadays it is defined as “to be the subject of many posts on a social media website within a short period of time.” So are we to believe that many, many people are talking about Carrie’s belly-flopping baby on Facebook? If so, that’s scary. I mean it’s one thing to gossip about people you don’t know and will never meet and whose actions have nothing at all to do with anything that happens in your life if they are running for public office, but a country music singer who isn’t Patsy Cline or Willie Nelson?
Instead I wish Facebook could allow us each to have our own “Trending” list that pertains to us and a few friends, or maybe just our husband who is going to be very, very involved and whose life will be severely impacted, extremely limited and dare I say crippled by the fact. Mine would look like this:
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
You are having hip replacement surgery next Monday.
— Andrea Rouda
Andrea Rouda blogs at The Daily Droid.
