Social Media and you...

[Lost In Xanadu]

So, after a while of this being out there... what are your thoughts? Do you feel more connected? Less connected? So fed up you are becoming a hermit?

 

I was on Facebook, and things were ok. Seemed the more time I spent on there seeing what old HS/College friends were up to, the more disconnected with the real people in my life I felt. I haven't been on FB in quite awhile and I really don't miss one thing about it.

 

The other night I went out with a friend, lives 3 doors down from me, and we had a couple drinks. We were talking about another neighbor who is in an amazing Led Zep tribute band. I said that we have to go see them when they do another show (they only do 2-3 a year) and he said that they just played last weekend. He said "I sent you a link on FB..."

 

This guy is my neighbor.... we used to hang out all the time. We used to call each other to get together or send text messages. Now - FB.

 

Seems to me it's doing the opposite of what the desired results are.... social media is making people more antisocial.

 

 

 

And one more thing - I could give a shit what some dingleberry in California is thinking about the sitcom I am watching. Stop posting live twitter reactions to repeats of television shows!

Edited March 3, 2014 by Lost In Xanadu

[ThatLightInYourEyes]

As the person who created the thread about hating FB, I can't help but agree 1000%. I really think it's one of the reasons why we're all shooting each other these days.

[hobo73]

It keeps me in touch with family/friends who live scattered around the world.

I hate texting/talking on the phone, and was always pretty anti social anyway lmao

[Aikenrooster]

I think it's about as low down as it gets to wish a personal friend or relative "Happy Birthday" exclusively on FB, I.E. without an actual phone call or visit.

[Blue J]

and was always pretty anti social anyway lmao

 

I'm into anti-social networking, myself. I can't tell if it's really caught on yet.

[KennyLee]

It works for me. Great way to share pictures or shamelessly promote my band or just find out what people are up to.

 

I HATE talking on the phone and work a lot and take the kids to hockey, etc. FB is a way for me to stay connected. Without it I would lose touch with a lot of people.

 

Also, for the band thing, people friend me after a show all the time. People always want to "connect" with performers and they feel like it's "their band". It takes me little to no time and they love it. Also, they're more likely to bring people out because "I know the singer/ bassist". Sure beats hanging posters in windows and paying for ads in magazines.

[Syrinx]

No Facebook, no Twitter, no Instagram, no Linked In no nothing for me.....and I feel great!

[ILSnwdog]

I like facebook for a couple of reasons. Its a great way for friends to see pictures of you and your family that would be otherwise missed. It's also great for reconnecting with friends that had fallen by the wayside. Other than that...I really don't have much use for facebook, and think it's narcissistic to post the insignificant happenings of your life throughout the day. Who really gives a rats ass what you had for lunch.

[KennyLee]

I like facebook for a couple of reasons. Its a great way for friends to see pictures of you and your family that would be otherwise missed. It's also great for reconnecting with friends that had fallen by the wayside. Other than that...I really don't have much use for facebook, and think it's narcissistic to post the insignificant happenings of your life throughout the day. Who really gives a rats ass what you had for lunch.

 

This, I agree with! Post when something special or meaningful happens. When you post 20 times a day about nothing, you get blocked. Finally you do something worth mentioning and nobody sees it. Haha.

[bluefox4000]

I have a FB. Rarely write stuff. But i check family/friends stuff all the time. I don't love it. but i also don't have a deep rooted hate for it like some people do.

 

it's ok.

 

Mick

[The Analog Grownup]

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn are the ones I'm using. Tried Instagram for a while, but that never caught on with me.

 

Facebook is mostly useless for me, but I'm there to keep in touch with family I rarely see. Don't post much there.

 

LinkedIn is for finding a job.

 

Twitter is actually the one I like the most. Being limited to 140 characters reminds me of the days when you could only send one text message on your mobile phone, and I use it a lot for inspiration on various subjects that interests me.

[Lorraine]

Not on any of the things mentioned.

 

I hate talking on the phone too.

Edited March 4, 2014 by Lorraine

[Narps]

No Facebook, no Twitter, no Instagram, no Linked In no nothing for me.....and I feel great!

This ^^^^^^^ except I have a facebook account but don't know how to do anything but look at it. This forum and my gmail are enough for me...... :)

[Mara]

I'm not on any of it. I had a Facebook account for about 20 minutes. Now, I might consider doing it again if they'd stop screwing around with its format - I don't want to have to redo all of the privacy settings every time Zuckerberg farts. Also I'd have a dedicated e-mail account for FB shit only - what creeped me out was when FB mined my e-mail contacts the second I signed up and started making "friend" suggestions based on what it found.

 

I lost my phone on Saturday, matter of fact. (Galaxy S4 and I am pretty sure someone stole it right out from under my nose. I had it blocked and shut down within the hour, so it's completely useless to the thief).

 

I'm not freaking out about it; in fact it's kind of nice to be free of the electronic leash. Yeah, I filed the claim for it so will get a replacement in a few days, but I didn't bother with a loaner.

 

I know more than a few people who'd be going through the equivalent of heroin withdrawal if they were forced to go without a constant source of social media for an extended period of time. My husband's nephew twitched like a detoxing junkie when his dad made him put the iPhone away at Christmas dinner a couple of years ago.

Edited March 5, 2014 by Mara

[treeduck]

Not on there now.

[tkdryan]

Does Eharmony count? :drool: Edited March 5, 2014 by tkdryan

[EagleMoon]

I've had a Facebook account since 2009 and I'm on there every day. I'm not ashamed to admit it. But the biggest use I get out of it is playing the games. I enjoy doing that. I also enjoy keeping in contact with friends I otherwise probably wouldn't know much about. It's nice to see family photos and hear what's going on in their lives. Especially the people who live across the country or even further. It's just a simple way to keep in contact. People will get on Facebook when they won't send emails. I love the chat feature. Edited March 5, 2014 by EagleMoon

[umoveme]

Eh. I'm on Facebook everyday. It's only as lame as you let it be. I don't socialize in person any differently because of FB, but I'm in contact with people I'd never be in contact with. It's a positive thing in my life. I don't take it very seriously. I like bragging about my dog and making silly observations about daily life.

[Cygnus 2112]

I'm on facebook and use it to keep up with people from high school but I rarely ever make status updates. I also have twitter and post on it quite regularly. I follow a bunch of hockey reports and fans of the Colorado Avalanche as well as RUSH fans. Send me a follow @avsfan1933

[Aikenrooster]

I don't have Facebook, but I read the pure ignorance that is posted on my wife's Facebook, when I am home. I do it to remind myself how religious people are, how much people love the military, how much people hate foreigners, and how much people celebrate being rednecks.

[Your_Lion]

I don't mind Facebook when I'm actually on Facebook, but I hate the way it follows you around, like some kind of alien lifeform spreading all over the internet.

For instance, when I buy something on Amazon, the last option is to tick a box so it will tell people on Facebook what I just bought

There's even a Facebook "Like" button at the bottom of this page

[drbirdsong]

I've got my privacy settings locked as tight as I can get them. I think Suckerberg is a real shitehed, but his little tool is very useful. I wouldn't be there if I didn't manage the page for my church and the opportunity to see family and friends from far away. There are some alternatives, but nobody has heard of them and good luck getting everyone you know to join. Facebook is a great idea. I just wish the people in charge would be more libertarian about how they run it. I know they have to sell ads to get money and that's fine, but it is too easy for folks to get hacked and the way they track your every move and bug you when you aren't even on it is too much.

 

I've noticed a phenomenon that goes on there too. You get a friend request from someone you haven't spoken to since high school or seen in a few years. You rekindle the relationship and then it peters out to nothing. It makes you remember why you quit talking to that person to begin with. I have three old friends from high school that I manage fairly regular communication with so that is a positive. Two of them live in Asia and we may have a get together in Japan this year or next and that alone makes it worthwhile because it would never have happened or even been discussed otherwise. If you're going to be on there I guess you have to take the good with the bad.

 

I think you have to managed your time carefully on the Internet or you can be on it for hours that pass by in an eye blink. I have one friend that I still write letters to. He gets online once a week and does what he has to do and that's it. I admire his willpower and his ability to live an almost monk-like lifestyle with incredible discipline. I don't think anything short of the Apocalypse is going to get me offline.

Edited March 5, 2014 by drbirdsong

[bathory]

facebook can be good or bad. I don't have strong feelings about it one way or the other, but like umoveme and eaglemoon, I'm on there daily and don't really get all the hatred. and like with this place and other places on the internet, I'm connected to folks I wouldn't have known otherwise. most of the shit on there people bitch about can be easily gotten rid of or ignored too, so I've always thought the people who claim to really despise facebook are just trying to be contrarians, kind of like folks who bitch about starbucks and wal-mart because there are many locations and lots of people go there.

[Boots]

I hate social media. It's just a popularity contest...like high school all over again.

It would suit me just fine if we all went back to using email & message boards.

 

THIS >>> "So fed up you are becoming a hermit?"

Edited May 22, 2014 by Boots

[KennyLee]

If you could go back in time 50 years and have a conversation about our lives right now.

 

Yeah, in the future we have these devices we keep in our pocket with which we can contact anyone in the world and access every piece of information known to man. I use mine to look at silly pictures of cats and argue with strangers.