Do you Facebook
Facebook, do you use it?
I did for a while, then I backed off for a while, but then
family/friends became annoyed that I got off and I’m back on… but not really
that active. I’ll share pictures
of my son, but I’m not so into the site.
I’d say some real pro’s for me – easy to share pictures to a group and
it’s helped me connect with cousins and appreciate them a lot more than I might
have had the opportunity otherwise.
Oh and fun groups, like the mommy groups and writers groups and jewelry
maker groups and cake decorator groups.. but those are groups specific to my
personal interest. Again, all
pro’s to Facebook.
But there’s a dark side to it too. I’d get a glimpse of it from time to time. The snarky comments, where someone
leaves a comment and you KNOW it was directed at a specific person, but the
poster doesn’t have the balls to come out and say it. Sort of like a snicker in a high school hallway behind a
kid’s back.
There’s the jealousy factor – post something and someone
tries to one-up you – again, childish.
Or there’s the flat out bully techniques, where someone goes off on you
for something you wrote or something you believe in.
And what’s a social media without the gossipers who have to
watch and comment on whatever anyone else is saying or doing?
Did you know there are studies on the affects of
Facebook? I heard about it on a
talk show – Facebook can cause… get this… depression and feelings of isolation.
All of the bully posts, the jealousy and cliques, the
judgmental posts, the “I’m telling you something but not “saying” it but you
KNOW I’m saying it to you” comments (cowards), the ugliness….. it’s forging
feels of depression and isolation.
The very thing a social media shouldn’t be doing. It should be an avenue of bringing
people together. That’s the
blessing I’ve found in it – to realize just how nice some of my friends and
relatives are and to be happy for what’s going on in their lives and support
them when things aren’t so good.
It’s a quick “high five” or a “cyber hug” of compassion.
Instead, FB is making people feel it’s ok to post uglies
because it’s not face to face. Or
to go into competition with someone and beat the Jones’s via the Internet. It’s crazy.
You know what’s worse…..
Do you know the demographics of FB now and when the studies
on FB were done?
The older generations.
Yes, you read that correctly.
All those childish behaviors?
That’s not coming from children – that’s coming from Adults – parents,
uncles, aunts, grandparents, great grandparents. The “youth” group has moved away from FB, because too many
adults started playing in their pond.
And what’s left?
A bunch of
adults with school yard mentalities.
Not everyone of course, but there’s enough to make a study about
it. Kind of scary… and I’m
thinking….
Blogging is a much better place to be. I’m glad I never gave up my blog for facebook. I know there can be ugly comments or ugly posts in blogging, but it's not to the extent of FB, because it's not a fast place to post with a large number of people to read and respond.
Not to totally knock FB though, as I said earlier, there are pro's and I will focus on those... and the negatives..? Ignore. They aren't worth the time and trouble. And I might laugh as I imagine them in a sandbox.
Not to totally knock FB though, as I said earlier, there are pro's and I will focus on those... and the negatives..? Ignore. They aren't worth the time and trouble. And I might laugh as I imagine them in a sandbox.
Comments
I think the premise of keeping up with friends and family members pivotal moments is nice but there is just so much "verbal garbage".
The other problem with FB is that it NOT anonymous. When you let people on they have access to all your family's names, locations, and such. While my regular readers of my blog tend to know my real last name because we have communicated by my email address that is clearly posted on my blog. So, for the most part, it's not so much that I am protective of my privacy but I am not sure that it is fair for me to invite others onto FB where they see my husband's, children's, niece's, nephew's etc. activities and see their posts and updates.
I consider it a shame that Twitter and Facebook seem to be eroding the popularity of blogs. People have a short attention span and like the quick and easy reads of that type of social media. Reading blogs takes time but the payoff is that you get to KNOW people, and learn at a lot more depth the opinions of others.