Oh the joys of Facebook. I must admit I was a bit naive when I joined and used my real name with a very distinctive surname that has not changed having found no one to marry and, well, actually, I rather like it now as it is. Anyway, I digress! The requests from people that I had been to school with came thick and fast, even on that first day (I only joined to play Scrabulous -now Lexulous due to Mattel being 'awkward'- with some friends I had met through various forums!!) and I duly signed up the ones I remembered, latched on to someone who had the foresight to remember to put her maiden name in the friend request and she then helped to jog my memory on some of the ones I had forgotten. I must admit that I did feel a bit popular, although I was only too aware that I didn't really know a lot of these people anymore and probably hadn't known them all that well then. Then there were the people that had never, ever even spoken to me at school. Why on earth did they want to be my friends??! Well being kind-hearted and never being exactly popular among the 'cool' kids I signed them all up. I now realise that a lot of people 'collect' friends on Facebook so they saw me there and naturally signed me up. I can't blame them, a lot of us want to feel good about ourselves don't we?
Anyway, when I checked my emails last night there were about 30!! all from Facebook and when I went to look at what all the fuss was about, I saw that some absolute (how can I put this politely?) rotter(!) had only posted our fifth year photo there and also tagged a load of us!! I was distraught at first (and I invariably post a comment before first thinking!) but after a nights sleep I had to have a closer look. We all looked so young then. Must younger than I felt at the time!! I probably feel younger now than I did then. I look into that photo and think that we all held such promise. We had no idea what was ahead for us and, especially at the start of a year too, I am concious that I don't feel that I have achieved what I thought I would. I am very jealous that two of my classmates are now secondary school teachers, the occupation that we all wanted to do, but they actually did it, whilst I flailed about and wasted my time either, drinking, meeting boys or being depressed for a lot of my late teenage years. Ho, hum. I suppose all you can do is take stock and try again to take those small steps that will help us achieve our goals.
I'm still not sure how I feel about Facebook, and feel that there is a lot of pitfalls but, I am convinced, a lot of untapped potential too. A bit like a life lived I think!!
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The only emails I allow from Facebook are ones where someone has sent me a message to my inbox and when someone wants to add me as a friend or has accepted my friend request. You can also remove people if you want. Although hopefully that will not be me! ;) You can alter your facebook email settings via the applications tab - click on edit. x
ReplyDeleteI know all that Alex but wonder if other people do sometimes!! You know me, I'm a very open kinda person... but I am worried about quite an influx of kids on Facebook and what stuff they have access to etc. Wonder if parents have stopped to think about what their sons/ daughters may have access to!! The whole thing about Facebook fascinates me and I just want to see what you can achieve with it really. Good to see you here Alex and thanksxxxxx
ReplyDeleteI love to hate FB. I flatly refused to go near for a long time, but ended up joining under an assumed name to connect with some other forum friends when the forum went wobbly and they took refuge on FB. I still hate it. I hate the whole desperation and friend collecting thing. Many of my work colleagues are on there and are "friends" with one another but hate each other at work, and bang on about how "at 5pm I switch off and don't give work another thought etc etc" and how they wouldn't socialise with "the boss" outside of work, yet they invite them into their personal space on FB. So I can empathise with you. Much prefer Janey's forum - so friendly
ReplyDeleteHiya Anonymous (I think I know who you are, but you can never be 100%!!) I know what you mean and as you must know I love Janey's forum for chats and hugs etc. Luckily I don't work outside the house but I have heard of a few people who have been reprimanded or even sacked from their jobs. One was for posting a photo of the boss in his underpants on a works night out. It was gross misconduct apparently but you do have to wonder at the bosses own conduct to be in his underpants in a nightclub don't you? The boundaries do seem to need reinforcing a bit at the moment though. I had a discussion with my own dh yesterday and he was very unhappy about some of the 'barbed' comments I sometimes put on there, which 'must be' aimed at him and everyone knows so he loses face apparently. It has set me thinking about how I would feel if he did the same to me, and I am actually not quite sure as I write this...
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