On Monday I shared 10 things I love about facebook. Here is the other list: 10 things I hate about facebook.- It’s a lazy way of sharing information – just throw it out there to everyone.
- It’s hard to be humble on facebook – it’s all about me, my status and what I am doing.
- You start to think in ‘status’ updates (or “how would I write this on facebook?”).
- You have to read so much rubbish to actually get to the useful information. It is apparent that some people feel even the most mundane events of their lives are worth sharing. On this point, I truly wish there was a scoring system for news. eg. 5 stars for major life events, 3 or 4 stars for interesting things or useful thoughts that are worth sharing, 2 stars for general daily info and 1 star for the rubbish that no-one cares about (eg. what you ate for dinner or the fact that your dog is cute).
- Every time they change the format, it becomes less user friendly and harder to sift through - I don’t want to read your comments on a friend that I don’t know. I don’t want to see one of your friend’s photos. Please people - change your privacy settings to ‘friends only’ for everything!!
- You fall for the lie that if you weren’t on facebook there may be crucial news you would miss out on.
- If you don’t check it every day, you can miss major news (yes, I know that this clashes with the sentiment in #6!)
- I really wonder how private any of it is? I now get junk emails from facebook pretenders.
- It seems to me that a massive number of people (including a significant number of people in paid ministry) waste a lot of time on facebook. And the cynic in me wonders – why are they not talking to people face-to-face about real things??
- It is an extraordinary time waster. This is not disputed by anyone who uses it. But no-one seems concerned about it.
Conclusions to come…
6 comments:
Just wondering why #3 is bad?
Wendy,
You are right, strictly speaking there's nothing wring with #3.
But I find that sometimes it controls my thoughts - I will do something and then think how I would put it into a status. Just another way to be self-absorbed - for me anyway!
I guess it's a list of things that bother me, not an absolute - so you can feel free to disagree!
Thanks,
Wendy
Hi Wendy,
As someone who is not on Facebook, I have a different perspective on #6 and #7: those not on Facebook are excluded from finding out what's going on (news, events, etc.) in the lives of those around them. Very few people on Facebook seems to realise, or indeed understand why people aren't on Facebook to start with.
I think you're spot on with #4 and #8 - do people realise that they are setting themselves up for identity theft (or worse) by posting all sorts of personal details for the whole world to see?
And of course #9 and #10 - I wonder how many working hours are wasted on Facebook each week? Would people have the same indifference about having coffee with friends / making phone calls for the same number of hours?
I look forward to your conclusions!
I don't think anyone should be on Facebook when they are at work. That is stealing from their employer.
Thanks Andrew - I agree with all your points. I am amazed how often conversations I have end up referring to facebook, to the exclusion of those not on it.
I'm still thinking through my conclusions myself! It's made me think a bit more critically, which is helpful for me.
Wendy - too right - simple and true.
As a bit of a FB adict I have a different view of your 4th point. I like reading the mundane. FB for me is not a way of finding out important information, my friends will email or call me for that. I enjoy seeing what close friends are up to on a daily basis, and often their lives, as well as mine are full of the mundane. I guess this allows me to connect with them on a level that I wouldn't get unless I called them once a day.
FB holidays are excellent. I have them sometimes but could do with more!
Hope you can find a good balance.
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