I love technology. It's kind of a hobby of mine. I don't always have the latest and greatest, but I do keep up with things. I've been thinking a lot about Facebook lately. I don't use it much to communicate, I use email. I don't post a lot of my own status updates, but I do occasionally share family videos. What I use it most for is for stocking old friends I have not seen in a long time. Here are the things I like about Facebook.
- It's an easy way to find old friends
- Pictures (Seeing how kids have grown up, and how people my age have changed...or aged)
- Everyone has it (With 400-500 million users I can find almost anyone)
- I get to see daily snippets of people's lives.
There are some things, however, I do not like about Facebook.
- The security is highly questionable (Instead of opting in to different sharing options most things are set to "share" as the default, and I have to opt out)
- For many Facebook has replaced the personal blog
- Facebook seems to be the new portal to the Internet (I can sign in to a lot of different websites with my Facebook login and they then track my surfing, personalizing advertisements just for me, none of which seems to match my interests)
- No offense to those of you who play Farmville or Mafia Wars, but when I just want to look at status updates I have to sort through all kinds of achievements and needs of these farmers and gangsters.
- My biggest complaint is that I need to talk to more people. I am an introvert and Facebook is not helping me practice my "Out of the house" skills.
Again, I love technology. I just want to make sure, as in all things, I use Facebook with wisdom. What are some things you like or dislike about Facebook?
I agree with your analysis of Facebook. I think it is great and it is fun to see how people are doing . . . but I don't think it is helpful for truly satisfying social contact. It is fun but lacks some depth. It is awesome to keep in touch in some way with friends and family from the past -- something that in the past only happened at Christmastime -- but you have to keep it in check, especially those of us who are introverts.
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