It has been said many times that our generation is selfish and we're looking out for one person, ourself. Not to say I don't think their are generous, compassionate, and unselfish people out there but we can definitely see some truth to this through social networking. How many times a day do we look at our notifications on Facebook? How concerned our we with our profile picture, making sure we look our best. How concerned are we with how many friends we have? Extremely concerned. In one of my class discussions last semester, people in the class were saying how often they looked at their Facebook just to see if they had any notifications (wall posts, picture comments, etc). That tells you an awful lot. We are concerned about our image and how we are perceived on the internet to our friends and peers.
Many people are concerned with how many friends they have on both Facebook and Twitter that they will just accept anyone. This is dangerous because we give out so much information through these sites including our hometown, date of birth, what we look like, and where we are (status updates). When we become too involved in our friend count that strangers are able to know everything about us, you know we have crossed the line. This is something we all should remember next time we go on Facebook, which was created to stay in touch with friends and family but has become more about us and less about others.
Wah! I typed this comment already but I clicked off before verification. Annoying!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, you bring up some really good points. When I check facebook, I guess I'm not really checking up on how other people are doing, I'm seeing how I'm doing. People are selfish, for the most part. I guess it can't be helped.
Interesting point about adding strangers and the lack of privacy. With Facebook's users getting younger and younger, I hope this newer generation utilizes Facebook's privacy options and have a good head on their shoulders about "talking to strangers" so they don't make themselves an online AND offline target.
I also fell victim to the posting but not verifying!
ReplyDeleteI was at BSU when facebook came to campus (back in the day it was only for college students) and so I do remember a time in college without Facebook, and I think because of that I'm able to keep myself from becoming addicted like other people have who haven't gone without facebook in their college life. I don't check all that much, maybe three times a week and don't have too many friends, around 200, but I can definitely see it in classes, I like to sit in the back row and you can see how many people pull out their phones and access facebook like they need another hit.