(no subject)
I was teaching Science to small children on Thursday and I had a significant break between classes and I ran into an old teacher who is currently teaching Media Literacy and asked me to jot down some thoughts on facebook and email them to her...This is what i came up with...
My thoughts on Facebook:
First of all, I think that there should be an age minimum to join. I understand that you can lie about your age, but I don’t want to see my 12 year old niece (I don’t really have a niece, but you get the point) on Facebook engaging in things that I also don’t want to know about. I also don’t want the same 12 year old to be able to see certain things about me. What if I have tattoos or piercings that the family doesn’t know about and she thinks its okay to tell them what she saw on my Facebook because she doesn’t know any better. On the same note, if you are one of my friends’ mothers, I do not want to be friends with you on Facebook…ever!
Second, I know it seems cool to be friends with your teachers on Facebook, but I think it blurs authority lines. It may very well be convenient to ask your teacher what to do for homework on Facebook, but that just becomes a pain for the teacher and it sets a standard. The standard is that any student can ask about homework or even missed assignments and it is assumed that the teacher will get back to you. If teachers and students are to be friends, they should not be allowed to write on each others “walls,” or comment on pictures. This definitely blurs the lines because teachers and students are not “friends,” as Facebook deems them. Teachers and students do not go watch movies together or go get dinner together. They don’t do that because it could very easily confuse a student into thinking he/she could get away with more because they are friends with the teacher. Now, I understand school-related events that might require a teacher and student to do something together, but my point is that they don’t chit-chat on the phone together every night. So the question then becomes, why should they then be allowed to write silly little anecdotes on each others “wall?”
I also think that Facebook can contribute to a low self-esteem. Can you imagine seeing pictures posted of ½ of your high school friends and you weren’t invited? Can you imagine seeing these pictures regularly? I bet it doesn’t help self-esteem at all because you start to wonder why you weren’t invited and why you weren’t called. And if you take the steps to call them, why did they still not invite you? It could definitely let you know who your real friends are.
Next, anything that you post or anyone posted on Facebook is now property of Facebook. So, that funny picture of you shot-gunning a beer that was only on the site for a week is now property of Facebook and Facebook can use it whenever they want. Now this is a big problem because what if your best friend posted the picture and you removed it immediately because you don’t want that on the internet? Facebook still owns the picture. You know the terms of agreement that you just skip through when you sign up for the site? Yes, it is in there. Like they say, read the fine print!
Oh, relationships are the worst on Facebook. If a girl writes on your boyfriend’s “wall,” you’re going to be angry and wonder who this girl is. You can say it won’t bother you, but it will. Jealousy has been brought to a whole new level thanks to Facebook. So you and the boyfriend break-up and next thing you know there are girls all over his Facebook profile. This then leads to another fight because of jealousy. Sometimes, you shouldn’t be allowed to communicate with your exes after the fact. Remember, they are exes for a reason.
I have a couple of friends, who were on Facebook, who have died. They were young, like myself, and the constant messaging to them sort of freaks me out. I very firmly believe that if someone dies, a month or two later the account should be deleted. It certainly doesn’t help you move on to look at their picture and profile every day. It also doesn’t help to write R.I.P. all over their wall. They’re not going to read it and chances are that their family won’t either. I almost feel like it becomes a contest as to who knew that person the best by who writes the best story on their “wall.” You may think that I am being completely emotionless, but think about it. I still think about these people a lot, but I do not ever go visit their Facebook profiles and tell them that I was thinking about them.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Facebook, for many reasons. I love the fact that when your friends take pictures of you, you actually get to see them! I can’t tell you how many times I remember being in high school and 15 different people had to take the same picture because there was no Facebook photo tagging. The photo tagging is also great because you get to see your friends’ pictures and what they’re doing. I did speak against it earlier, but that was only in the manner of your friends not including you.
Facebook is a great utility for social organizations. I was a member of a business fraternity and this was the best way for us to keep in touch. It was also the easiest way for us to keep in touch. Most college age people check their Facebook accounts multiple times a day, so the best way to inform people about any event was through Facebook. Any party I ever had or went to, I knew about because of Facebook. It’s great about the events too because Facebook reminds you the day of about the event.
I also think Facebook is great because it gave me a chance to connect with people that I hadn’t talked to in years. I moved schools for 3 years, and went to a sleep-away summer camp for 9 years. Chances are, I never would have kept in touch with these people had it not been for Facebook. In fact, I went to a wedding 3 months ago for a girl I went to summer camp with. I imagine that I never would have been invited had Facebook not been invented.
Status updates, while they can sometimes be annoying, they are also amazing when you want them to be. For instance, your status could say “I’m going to see a movie tomorrow, anyone want to join?” And chances are, you will get a response or two with people wanting to know what movie and what time and you will then have a movie date. Or “I am boiling crawfish at the fly…COME!” How could you resist that status message? I would leave my house immediately! The status messages are also great because they can say things like “I got accepted into law school,” or other messages along that line. Could you imagine wanting to tell everyone you know that you got accepted into law school and all you had to do was update your status? It’s great!
My thoughts on Facebook:
First of all, I think that there should be an age minimum to join. I understand that you can lie about your age, but I don’t want to see my 12 year old niece (I don’t really have a niece, but you get the point) on Facebook engaging in things that I also don’t want to know about. I also don’t want the same 12 year old to be able to see certain things about me. What if I have tattoos or piercings that the family doesn’t know about and she thinks its okay to tell them what she saw on my Facebook because she doesn’t know any better. On the same note, if you are one of my friends’ mothers, I do not want to be friends with you on Facebook…ever!
Second, I know it seems cool to be friends with your teachers on Facebook, but I think it blurs authority lines. It may very well be convenient to ask your teacher what to do for homework on Facebook, but that just becomes a pain for the teacher and it sets a standard. The standard is that any student can ask about homework or even missed assignments and it is assumed that the teacher will get back to you. If teachers and students are to be friends, they should not be allowed to write on each others “walls,” or comment on pictures. This definitely blurs the lines because teachers and students are not “friends,” as Facebook deems them. Teachers and students do not go watch movies together or go get dinner together. They don’t do that because it could very easily confuse a student into thinking he/she could get away with more because they are friends with the teacher. Now, I understand school-related events that might require a teacher and student to do something together, but my point is that they don’t chit-chat on the phone together every night. So the question then becomes, why should they then be allowed to write silly little anecdotes on each others “wall?”
I also think that Facebook can contribute to a low self-esteem. Can you imagine seeing pictures posted of ½ of your high school friends and you weren’t invited? Can you imagine seeing these pictures regularly? I bet it doesn’t help self-esteem at all because you start to wonder why you weren’t invited and why you weren’t called. And if you take the steps to call them, why did they still not invite you? It could definitely let you know who your real friends are.
Next, anything that you post or anyone posted on Facebook is now property of Facebook. So, that funny picture of you shot-gunning a beer that was only on the site for a week is now property of Facebook and Facebook can use it whenever they want. Now this is a big problem because what if your best friend posted the picture and you removed it immediately because you don’t want that on the internet? Facebook still owns the picture. You know the terms of agreement that you just skip through when you sign up for the site? Yes, it is in there. Like they say, read the fine print!
Oh, relationships are the worst on Facebook. If a girl writes on your boyfriend’s “wall,” you’re going to be angry and wonder who this girl is. You can say it won’t bother you, but it will. Jealousy has been brought to a whole new level thanks to Facebook. So you and the boyfriend break-up and next thing you know there are girls all over his Facebook profile. This then leads to another fight because of jealousy. Sometimes, you shouldn’t be allowed to communicate with your exes after the fact. Remember, they are exes for a reason.
I have a couple of friends, who were on Facebook, who have died. They were young, like myself, and the constant messaging to them sort of freaks me out. I very firmly believe that if someone dies, a month or two later the account should be deleted. It certainly doesn’t help you move on to look at their picture and profile every day. It also doesn’t help to write R.I.P. all over their wall. They’re not going to read it and chances are that their family won’t either. I almost feel like it becomes a contest as to who knew that person the best by who writes the best story on their “wall.” You may think that I am being completely emotionless, but think about it. I still think about these people a lot, but I do not ever go visit their Facebook profiles and tell them that I was thinking about them.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Facebook, for many reasons. I love the fact that when your friends take pictures of you, you actually get to see them! I can’t tell you how many times I remember being in high school and 15 different people had to take the same picture because there was no Facebook photo tagging. The photo tagging is also great because you get to see your friends’ pictures and what they’re doing. I did speak against it earlier, but that was only in the manner of your friends not including you.
Facebook is a great utility for social organizations. I was a member of a business fraternity and this was the best way for us to keep in touch. It was also the easiest way for us to keep in touch. Most college age people check their Facebook accounts multiple times a day, so the best way to inform people about any event was through Facebook. Any party I ever had or went to, I knew about because of Facebook. It’s great about the events too because Facebook reminds you the day of about the event.
I also think Facebook is great because it gave me a chance to connect with people that I hadn’t talked to in years. I moved schools for 3 years, and went to a sleep-away summer camp for 9 years. Chances are, I never would have kept in touch with these people had it not been for Facebook. In fact, I went to a wedding 3 months ago for a girl I went to summer camp with. I imagine that I never would have been invited had Facebook not been invented.
Status updates, while they can sometimes be annoying, they are also amazing when you want them to be. For instance, your status could say “I’m going to see a movie tomorrow, anyone want to join?” And chances are, you will get a response or two with people wanting to know what movie and what time and you will then have a movie date. Or “I am boiling crawfish at the fly…COME!” How could you resist that status message? I would leave my house immediately! The status messages are also great because they can say things like “I got accepted into law school,” or other messages along that line. Could you imagine wanting to tell everyone you know that you got accepted into law school and all you had to do was update your status? It’s great!