Facebook Flight

Two weeks ago, Hughes was chosen to be in a contest for Allison Muirhead Photography.  The winner received a $3000 photo package on location or in Allison's studio. 

Immediately, I threw all my "I will never be on facebook again!" statements out the door and signed up! 

I mean, this would help out sooo much!  Especially, with Wiley's soon arrival and birth announcements and all! :)

(Background:  I was a facebooker in college.  I deactivated my account when my younger brother got on facebook.  He needed his privacy and I DID NOT want to know his privacy.)

 It was so simple to start.  Just enter your email address and a password and birthday. 

Choose a picture for your profile then you can enter ANY and ALL information about yourself and your family that you choose. (I will come back to this point again.) 

So, with minimal information entered I was signed on for facebook and ready to cast my vote once a day for the contest!

I had immediate guilt when I signed up.  Why?  Because, I have some issues with facebook.

Here are a FEW: (If you would like to know more, it would probably be a 300 page bound book.)

*It brings out my noisiness (if that's a word). 

Normally, I am not a nosey person. 

What a person does in his or her life is their business and NONE of mine. 

Unless, they CHOOSE to share the information with me. 

And even sometimes, I prefer to NOT know information because it can turn into gossip with the whisper of a mouth.  "Gossip" can be so juicy and then turns infectious.  And you want and maybe even NEED to share the juiciness with your closest friend...that ALSO has a CLOSE friend...and so the chain lengthens. 

Gossip, as I learned in middle and high school mostly, is bad.  The "gossip" or words usually are not forms of nice or genuine care or sincerity.  Gossip, whether, true or false is USUALLY hurtful and unkind. 

Can you remember ever listening to or telling "gossip" that was uplifting or nice, but was to remain a secret? 

But, I am self aware enough to know, that I would be nosey JUST to be nosey, which would not lead to me, well 

....being a better me. 

(Now, I must interject myself.  I am NOT perfect.  I am NOT saying that I haven't been caught up in "gossip" since middle and high school.  But, my point is this, I do not want to ENCOURAGE it in my life.  Facebook, for me, allowed me to be secretly nosey.  This is all I am saying.)

*People are WAY to personal. 

Why do you share so many intimate thoughts and details of the day with, dare I say, friends of friends? 

Some things that are posted are more intimate thoughts that I don't even get to tell my husband.  I had much rather confide in Kent than "friends of friends". 

Maybe this is where REAL personal and intimate relationships are suffering. 

"Friendship" has been made a blanket term and you share any and all with "confirmed" "friends".  

Friendship to me is confiding, trusting and loving someone in your life on a very tangible basis.  (I am aware that I sound like I was born in the 30's as opposed to the '80's.) 

 People can know where you live, where you graduated, where you just went to the bathroom, if the bathroom was clean, etc. 

If you "check in" at a restaurant, you know what that tells someone else? 

You are "checked out" of your house and it is probably empty for AT LEAST another 45 minutes if they would like to get something they want at your casa. 

I'm just sayin'.

*I DO NOT like the chat feature. 

It scares me. 

Not so much for myself. 

But for young girls and boys. 

If you are a young girl reading this blog, PLEASE pay attention.  (Young girls = under 18 and definitely under 14...to which I, personally, do not believe that you should have a facebook account. 

You, dear, sweet, innocent, young lady are on facebook for fun, BUT their are gross, sickening, NASTY, adults on facebook that would LOVE to "chat" with you. 

In that case, you should run and tell your Mama and Daddy and the Po Po and your teachers and ask them to help you deactivate your facebook account. 

Just in case, why don't you just go deactivate your facebook account right now, just for good measure :)  (This goes for boys, too.) 

I know that parents say that they monitor what their children do on facebook, however, a chat can happen in a  matter of minutes and the parent would NEVER know. 

And, by "monitor", I don't mean: "Well, I read every post that my child types and watch their language and blah, blah, blah..."  Children can hide what they want certain people to read ex:  messages, chats, even walls and posts.  It's just not safe.  We need to be PLUGGED into our children's lives and this would just allow us one less worry. 

Since, clearly, our children can "unplug" us with the click of a mouse. 

 Wa lah, parents sitting in the dark ONCE again...and YOUR child put you there. (If you can't tell, I feel VERY strongly about this.)

I am also aware that children could then go into a "fake" account and be anyone they want to be.  I am just trying to encourage an open conversation with your children about the importance and dangers of facebook or any other social network.

AND, if you are a parent of a child on facebook, you better get yourself on too! 

"Plug in" even when they don't want you to...you pay the "electricty bill" every month!

If they won't confirm your friendship, consider that a sign that there MAY BE something in their life that they don't want you to know. 

I'm not saying go and post, "I love you sweet baby boy." on their wall every morning!

Just plug yourself into their world.

I realize I also seem VERY negative and a Debbie Downer.  No, I do NOT believe all people in the world are bad. 

Yes, I DO KNOW that many people in the world choose to do bad things. 

No, I am not unrealistic enough to believe that it couldn't happen to me or the ones I love.

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Side Note:  I believe facebook is GREAT for business purposes.  Posting contest, coupons, latest arrivals is 

a wonderful way to get people to see you and make a brand for yourself. 

If you are an adult on facebook taking in all the great deals ... power to you. 

I can't because, (see bullet #1) and I would use it for more than coupons, by default.

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I will only bore you with 3 points about my, again, PERSONAL, issues with facebook and other social networks today. 

It may come as no shock to you, but I have deactivated my account since we found out the winner of the contest. 

(P.S. Hughes did not win, but a stinkin' cute little girl won and she is ADORABLE...repeat, ADORABLE! :)

I'm off.  To crawl back into my deep black hole...

I like my black hole.

Pretty comfortable in this black hole.

Not so much trying to take up my time in the black hole.

The blog does plenty of that for me.

I can't take on ANOTHER computer addiction.

One addiction at a time.

You're welcome to come visit me here, in my black hole blog anytime you like:)