Free Hit Counters
Free Counter WACKY WEDNESDAY WISDOM: Proceed with caution when joining Facebook

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Proceed with caution when joining Facebook

I’ve been on it for over a year now. At some point I knew I’d have to write a column about it, acknowledging its presence in my life. I assumed it wouldn’t be a proud moment, but it turns out I’m no longer ashamed to admit it. I’m on Facebook. Me and 34 million other people worldwide. It all started when I went on a mission trip with a youth group last summer. Our local group met and worked and bonded with youth from other churches. Upon returning home, my high school son informed me that several of the youth we met were asking for me on a thing called Facebook. “I’ll set up the account for you, Dad. It’s easy.” And so my journey began, despite some misgivings. I had heard all the horror stories. People who get on that Facebook stuff become addicted, they say. Predators hang out in Facebook chat rooms and have access to personal info. People talk dirty and send inappropriate stuff to each other in such venues. People who don’t have lives (as in “Get a life”) spend hours a day on Facebook because they’re insecure and need attention. Add to this list the possibility of identity theft and the fact that many consider the whole Facebook thing a serious waste of time. And some research suggests, though disputed, that students who have Facebook make lower grades in school. Which hasn’t been a problem for me since my degrees are all complete and up to date at this point. Even so, the more I’ve researched about Facebook, the more potential issues I have discovered. Some minor, some serious. And I didn’t write this column to recommend it to others and extol its virtues. Anyone considering signing up should check out all the facts. And MySpace is a whole other story. I’ll tell you straight up that I don’t have an account there. And it’s highly unlikely I ever will. Do the research, count the costs, and decide for yourself. Twitter. Quite simply, I don’t have time for it. And I don’t know much about it except that the NFL has banned its players from twittering on the sidelines during regular season games. What? Are you kidding me? A linebacker wants to Twitter from his cellphone beside the water cooler while the offense is chewing up the clock and giving him a breather? Apparently so. Back to Facebook. Of course it is abused by folks at times. And some inappropriate stuff rears its ugly head on there, I suspect. Does that mean the medium itself is bad? Some claim that by being involved in such a venture, those who participate are contributing to and, in effect, are condoning the abuses which occur and could potentially occur on Facebook. This column started out as one I wanted to have a little fun with, but as I did the research, I realized it would be improper to minimize the necessary caution that should be taken when jumping on the bandwagon of a seemingly innocent technological phenom. Thus I have provided quite a laundry list of reasons to never sign up for Facebook. But sign up I did. And I’m staying on. And I’ll need another column next week to tell you all the reasons why.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home