As I was writing Singled Out and mocking couples who take those sappy love songs seriously, I occasionally stopped to wonder whether I was unfairly caricaturing them. "You are my everything." "I just want to be your everything." Does anyone really buy that?
Turns out, the answer is yes. Not only do they sign on to that stuff, they actually post it on their Facebook pages!
As is so often the case, I learned about this from two of my favorite sources - Living Single readers who send me links to provocative stories and reporters who ask the best questions. The reader in this case was Shaun Johnson, who sent me the CNN story, "Avoid being that annoying coupled-up person." The reporter was Dakshana Bascaramurty from the Globe and Mail. She described Facebook postings in which couples gush over each other, exchange baby talk or dirty talk, feature pictures of themselves with their honey, post profiles in which every favorite item is something about their sweetie, and all the rest. Her question was basically, "What's up with this?"
She also pointed me to a site where other people post screen grabs and vent about how annoying this is. It is called STFU, Marrieds. Here are some examples:
•"OMFG C is the hottest most amazing boyfriend ever. He's my everything!" [Oct 13]
•"____ feels bad for stealing the most AMAZING man off the market" [Sept 20]
•"poofy woof and I love you" [Sept 20]
•"David is having a hard time waking up and misses his schmoopy" [Oct 14]
•"Grace is esp thankful that because of God's grace, she has the BEST husband EVER in the world. Seriously, best ever. Yeah, go on, be jealous." [Oct 14]
•Ashley: "I have the most amazing awesome husband in the whole world! I feel so blessed!!"
Kellee: "Sorry to burst your bubble but I have that one wrapped up" [Oct 8]
•"hahaha...Nathan and I (well technically me) just broke the bedroom window while gettin some! Haha... and this isn't the first time! How Embarrassing!" [Oct 6]
I think this is great fun to think about collectively so let's do that first. Add your own examples of annoying status updates, if you wish. Read comments already contributed to the version cross-posted here. Offer your own answers to the reporter's question, "What's up with this?" Then read this next post, where I try to make sense of these over-the-top, incessant, sappy, and embarrassing Facebook status updates. Finally, of course, add your own critique.