Fmylife.Com: Both Negative and Positive?

The user-submitted humor website fmylife.com has gained a certain level of prominence in the last year or so. Users submit stories from their lives that are unlucky or merely unfortunate and people vote as to whether the story truly reflects that the user's life "is f***ed" or whether "[they] deserved that one." I looked at the site a few months ago and slowly I became hooked. Now I am subscribed to updates via RSS. However, I have a few gripes with the site.

Basically, I think the entire idea of saying "f*** my life" is extremely negative and the fact that people have taken the phrase and run with it is unfortunate. I mean, yeah, we all have days when bad things happen to us or when we have a seemingly endless amount of work, but that doesn't mean we should quit or say that our lives are irredeemably bad. Yes, it may just be an expression of frustration, but I still believe that it is negative and counterproductive.

The voting system is the same way. One has the choice of voting "I agree, your life is f***ed" or "You deserved that one." I wish there were options more along the lines of "That's unfortunate, but it seems like an isolated incident" or "Your life doesn't seem that bad, on the whole. Remember that."

I'll admit that I read the site. I already admitted that I do in the first paragraph. Some of the stories are funny, some make me grimace, some make me thankful for little things that I've never taken the time to consider.

I think that the reason that people look at fmylife.com is the same reason that people rubberneck at car accidents. We're simultaneously interested in what happened and captivated by the misfortune of another individual. In a way, by reading stories of other people's problems, we feel better about our own lives. We feel better about our relationships, our jobs, and even our own problems, which are minimized relative to those of others.

So while I feel like the negative attitude that the site embodies is somewhat unhealthy and perhaps counterproductive, I feel that the site also has a purpose. If, by reading the stories on fmylife.com, a person can see the bigger picture and perhaps place his or her own problems in a different context, then perhaps the end result of the site is positive.

Maybe they could consider changing the site's name to "unfortunatestoriesthatwillhelpyouseethebiggerpictureandperhapsplaceyourownproblemsinadifferentcontext.com." I think that's just as catchy.

Do you read fmylife.com? What do you think its end result is? Feel free to share your thoughts in the form of a comment. Thank you for reading!