Never Believe a Facebook Meme

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I have learned over the years to never take a Facebook posting at its "Face" value. So many of them are full of inaccurate information and wild theories. But even the ones that seem innocuous can mislead you utterly. Lately, I have been seeing a lot of "there are only (fill in the blank) weeks until Christmas". Sometimes the count is in days. I immediate think "oh no, the year is flying by". Then I stop to think for a moment and realize that these countdowns are crazy wrong. Then there are the "missing child" or "have you seen this person?" posts from four or five years ago and quite often, the missing person was found a long time ago. I usually Google to find out if this is a new or old posting. I will gladly share if that child is still missing, but often I find out that the missing child turned up and all is well. The problem of course is that "share" feature on Facebook that people use without thinking. And because of that, misinformation goes viral and people get all caught up in wild stories that aren't even true. People even fight over the crazy stories in the comments. Then there are the RIP posts for people who haven't died - like Jackie Chan. And the announcements that a famous person has died and you get all sad, only to remember that this person died a few years ago. I can't tell you how many times Rue McClanahan has died on my Facebook feed. It was sad enough the first time. Sob. But I think the Christmas one is possibly the most evil of all. It's hard enough to plan for Christmas shopping and time flies fast enough as it is. I don't need to get a shock like being warned Christmas is right around the corner. Do you get caught out believing Facebook posts that have no basis in reality?