The Check-Up: Why You Hate the New Facebook
Oh, c'mon. The new Facebook's not that bad.
• Welp, the weekend is over and, yes, the new Facebook still sucks. But before you go off on how much you hate your newsfeed (is it even called that anymore?) and start whining about how you can’t figure how to upload a picture of Saturday’s 48-hour bender—read this. The Huffington Post explains why, physiologically-speaking, you hate the new Facebook: It’s because your brain doesn’t cope well with change.
If we think of the brain as a prediction machine (a reductive but useful model), it follows that the brain likes to be correct about its predictions and dislikes being incorrect.
Failing at prediction is actually perceived as a threat to the organism (however slightly or subconsciously), and so any surprises or unanticipated changes seem menacing.
So it’s simple: Because your brain doesn’t yet understand the new Facebook, it’s programmed to hate it. Ok? Feel better? I sure hope so.
• Okay, now it’s my turn to rant: I’m back to “OMG look at all the germs that lurk in hospitals.” After learning what lives on hospital-workers’ uniforms, I find myself squirming whenever spot a scrubs-wearing commuter on the bus. Ick. The latest thing you should probably be afraid of? Hospital privacy curtains. They’re apparently swimming in MRSA and other drug-resistant, disease-causing bugs (read: you’re not safe anywhere). I think it’s time to go find a nice bubble to live in, eh?
