Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've been on the internet now for a long time, 15 years!! Remember AOL and prodigy?
-Part of me thinks that the "internet", "the world wide web", "the information superhighway" is really a way to collect information about you. It was initially thought of as a lure. Free, fun. Play games, chat, email. Harmless stuff.
But then....I don't know....by design?...it's turned into this information pipe. It makes me wonder about the real intent of the internet. Is it really for our benefit? Supposedly the wild west. You're supposedly "free"....away from that wicked mainstream media. Away from all the controlled "noise" in society.
The internet is supposedly the last bastion of freedom. Finally, people have a way to express themselves, post what they think, share information.
Or was that just the lure to get you on it? In the 90's. I don't know. It could be a slow drip strategy....like at the airport. First its nail clippers. Then 6 oz liquids. Then your shoes. Then patting down. Hmmmm.
Is the internet an information collecting tool and spy machine? Maybe. With email, celebrity gossip, twitter thrown in for fun. Why do people give up so much information without thinking about it?
I'll jump in here and say the same thing I have said since these sites went live. Facebook, Myspace and all the other social networking sites are a bad idea. As other here have stated it has lead to numerous fights amongst friends and families. Has been the cause of at least two divorces that I am personally aware of and it puts your entire life on the Net for the entire world to read, review and pick apart.
When I was in charge of hiring one of the first things I'd do was find a persons facebook or my space account and see what they where truly like and I'm here to tell you that it was the sole reason for several people being refused employment. It also got two people from the company fired based on comments and pics posted.
Those that feel these sites give you any kind of privacy because you have your profile set to private is a joke. MySpace and Facebook accounts can be hacked by a have way competent person in 5 mins. When that happens your life is out there for the whole world to see.
Getting fired for being critical of your company or associates, WOW! So much for Free Speech! Or even Free Thought. No wonder I think private sector businesses are infested with petty tyrants that believe all human rights stop at the factory gate. I have NO tolerance for tyrants and very little for fools. I would never look into someone’s private place for employment. I would hire them if they could do the job. What they do on their time is their concern. Not mine of the company’s.
I figure that anyone that wants to know about me and what I do or think can look all they want. Being observed is not going to change my behavior. If you don’t like what I am doing tell me. I might change or I might not. I live in a goldfish bowl. Now if someone tries to harm me because of what they observed I consider that an assault and will deal with it as required.
I was confronted by an ex neighbor because I wrote some disparaging comments about him on City-Data. He said he thought I thought he was a good neighbor so how could I be so mean. I replied that he was a good neighbor but still was also a stupid alcoholic that relied too much on Vodka Wisdom. I do not say things on the web that I would not say directly to someone.
Is the internet an information collecting tool and spy machine? Maybe.
Without a doubt it is. The web banner advertisements you see that are the same that follow you from site to site are specialized ad's shoved in your face by people keeping track of the sites you visit, the videos you watch, the pirated music you download, the things you write online and the things you type into Google. The personalized ad's on Facebook are the scariest. It is dead obvious that it is someone's job to read your profile and analyze every bit of information from the types of people on your friends list to your hobbies and interests. For example, if you are a man and your Facebook page says you are "single" and you are "interested in women" and most of your female Facebook friends are, let's say hypothetically, Black women, then there will be dating ad's featuring pictures of Black women on your Facebook. Privacy is dead. It is no secret that the CIA is one of the top investors in Facebook.
Facebook is what you make of it, nothing more, nothing less. I use it every day to keep in touch with my extended family, which is scattered all over the country, and my old friends from high school. My husband has FB too, for the same reasons.
It all comes down to how you use it. It's called "having common sense".
Well said. I use it for the same reason - I have family and friends scattered throughout the country as well as in other parts of the world. I've found its a better way to stay in touch than an occasional e-mail or phone call (still make those, but now I can fill in the spaces in between those other communications).
For friends I have locally, its a great way for a group to organize a way to get together, especially on short notice. I will frequently post on FB that, hey after work my wife and I are heading to [insert place name here] for drinks or dinner after work, or see what other people have planned for the evening. Easier than making half a dozen phone calls.
And when I travel for work, its great to just say - I'll be in Austin / Chicago / LA / etc next week from Monday-Thursday to let people I know in those places know I'm coming so we can get together for dinner or something.
Can we get along without these types of things? Sure we can. But they can be quite handy at times.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MSUdom5
Don't post personal, private information on the world wide web if you don't want a worldwide web of people to see it.
Exactly.
And I take that a few steps further. I am only friends with people I personally know, not every single person I ever come into contact with. I keep my page locked down, I NEVER allow co-workers, clients or anyone else I am associated with in my work life to be my "friend" and I set up my FB page under a nickname and an e-mail address solely set up to create my FB account. Not saying someone who knew me well couldn't find me on FB with a bit of effort, but no one googling my real name will have it pop up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stonecypher5413
Count me in as another happy and satisfied confirmed Luddite who savors and guards her privacy at all costs. I, too, have never Facebooked, Tweeted, LinkedIn...
LinkedIn is an entirely different matter. Keeping in touch with professional colleagues is never a bad thing. When I got laid off last year - I was able to go right to my LinkedIn page, let people know I was looking, hit up a few former managers for references and got both said references and numerous leads (one of which resulted in a new job within a month) within no time at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stonecypher5413
And then I'll be moseying on into the house after that to make a call on my rotary phone to a family member so we can catch up on each other's doings.
I keep saying someone should make a rotary cel phone. That would be awesome.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred314X
People, society, even life itself, got by just fine before Facebook et al. That's why I have the suspicion we can survive without it.
We could survive without it. People also likely felt the same about other newfangled things when they came out, like the word processor, the laptop, the fax machine or the automobile.
Quote:
Originally Posted by John23
I've been on the internet now for a long time, 15 years!! Remember AOL and prodigy?
I've got you beat. I was "on-line" visiting bulletin board sites, downloading computer games and exchanging messages with people via my Commodore 64 that was plugged in to a 300 baud modem back in 1986. Dang I'm old.
A friend of mine, a bank manager of two banks, posted his opinions of the current Presidential administration on Facebook, and the bank fired him. He said nothing about his employers or employment - but someone saw it and reported him to his bosses.
I love Facebook because it keeps me in touch with my family and friends. I don't put up with drama queens or the "Oh, my DH is cheating on me again!" types, religious fanatics, those who post nothing but pompous mindless platitudes, or the endlessly miserable types. I have 93 friends. That's it, after two years. I don't friend anyone I don't know personally and well. And if they get too over the top on anything, I unfriend them. I don't have the time to be bored by them.
The kids at the high school where I work - some friend me, most don't. They call me "momma' or 'grandmomma' to my face at school, and I am always friends with their parents too. While school administrations are freaking out about what the kids are posting, I KNOW what 'my kids' are posting, to whom, about whom. Yet I am always the wise ol gramma who tells them that this too shall pass, that they are worth more than they know. I support them, praise them, and comfort them - something their own parents do, too, but it's different when someone besides your Mom says it too! Plus I use my page to warn friends, family, and students about viruses and other things being passed around on Facebook and other places, and since I was one of the first people notified when we had a "Snow Day!" or a late start, I would post immediately so the kids would know. I stay in touch with them and their parents this way, even after they graduate.
As long as adults behave like adults, I don't see a problem with it. The problem enters in when adults behave like grade-schoolers, or the town wh___ - well, you know - or when pedophiles use it to manipulate children. I have every restriction possible on my page, too - no strangers allowed.
Reading your post was enough to make me deactivate account... It's one of those sites I feel you could really set yourelf up on for embarracement, expecially if you got on there after a few to many...
I'd only been on for a week or so, saw a few old classmates, interacted with one, glad to see there doing well...now I'm done...
Quote:
Originally Posted by goldenchild08
Over the past five or so years, the booming popularity of social networking sites has added a new dimension to many of our lives whether we like it or not. In its infancy, social networking sites seemed fun and innocent. It was a great way to find out that people who were your friends once upon time, who may have moved far away or don't live near you anymore, were still alive and well. It was also a great way to keep up with your circle of friends who you see on a regular basis as well.
However, the ugly downside of social networking sites is apparent. Every piece of information you choose to post on the internet can potentially harm you in a multitude of ways. Facebook can keep you from getting a job or get you fired from the one you have already. One little slip up on Facebook or Twitter also could very easily ruin your reputation with everyone you have ever known in your life. All it takes is to be tagged in a uncompromising photo that you thought no one would every see. Many people who defend social networking sites would argue that there are certain privacy features that keep everyone from viewing what you put on your profile. But the nature of modern social networking sites is that there is no telling what is truly private or not. The creator of Facebook, himself, Mark Zuckerberg casually declared an all-out war on people's privacy across the world when he said he believes that privacy is dead and people should share more and more personal information about themselves over the information superhighway without restraint. This is quite scary if you think about it. Zuckerberg also failed to mention that Facebook is a notable factor in ruining approximately one in five marriages today and that there is a rising clinical prognosis for what has been termed as Facebook addiction with many people logging on to Facebook 20-40+ hours a week.
Also, many suicides and murders are increasingly becoming linked to interactions and postings on social networking/media sites. Although most social networking users don't face the harshest and most extreme consequences of using such popular sites as Facebook and Twitter, I feel as if social networking sites actually erode the quality of existing friendships and inevitably warps the way casual acquaintances perceive you as a person. This is because sharing your deepest most personal thoughts with anyone reading is unnatural if not downright dangerous. Social networking has resurrected a certain juvenile pettiness that has laid dormant in our minds since high school. People who are your friends, people who you barely know and sometimes even perfect strangers are constantly judging you through every little thing you post about yourself. Facebook has become a place where people feel safe behind their computer screens to say nasty vile things to people that they never would have the balls to say in real life. Friendships end and enemies are made everyday unnecessarily through postings and messaging on Facebook. Also, there are no winners on Facebook. People with thousands of Facebook "friends" are killing their privacy and putting themselves at more risk with every person they add. People with few Facebook friends are victim of judgement as well. In this regard, Facebook is hurting the self-esteem of young children and teenagers.
One can easily argue that all of these problems with social networking/media sites only reflect already existing problems that stem from the imperfections of human nature. What do you think? Are increasingly powerful and omnipresent social networking sites inherently dangerous and a sign that we will be living in a Matrix-like digital police state one day if we aren't already? Or is online social networking good in moderation with discipline? Do you think social networking sites are only a temporary fad that will be gone next year? Or is the multi-billion dollar Facebook industry here to stay manifested as a modern-day incarnation of a harmful all-knowing central database, that King of the Hill's Dale Gribble called "The Beast", and ruin all of our lives in ways we have yet to imagine?
I, too, have never Facebooked, Tweeted, LinkedIn, or any other of those other enormous drains on my time, energy, and ability to enjoy life
Like the City-Data message boards?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred314X
I admit, though, that it's fascinating to read through all the postings in this thread, as one person after another justifies turning over their existence to a computer screen.
Like the City-Data message boards?
Quote:
Originally Posted by John23
Is the internet an information collecting tool and spy machine?
Dang. I love a good conspiracy theory!
Quote:
Originally Posted by johna01374
Has been the cause of at least two divorces that I am personally aware of
Facebook doesn't cause divorces. Unhappy spouses spreading private information on Facebook causes divorces. It's no different from when unhappy spouses spread private information over the telephone, or at the local diner.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
