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Don’t let today’s technology control you

Julia Thornton

by Julia Thornton

03 Feb 05:40am

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Filed under: Facebook, Social Media, Society, Technology, Twitter

69 comments

It’s no secret that I am a fan of Facebook.

Keeping it real on Facebook in Egypt this week, despite strict controls. Photo: Getty Images.

It should be no surprise that I like it. I am a 30-something, stay-at-home mother, and I work from home part-time, freelance.

And it is a lonely life. Activities with babies last one or two hours, then it’s you and the baby or toddler, toys with bells and blocks.

When times get tough, I turn to documentaries or The Wiggles. But at sleep times, there was Facebook.

Facebook has been a window to my old life and a way of maintaining contact with former colleagues, old friends and some politicians.

Without it, I’m certain I would have either gone back to work just for the social interaction. I know many women who returned to work not because of the money, but because they needed to talk about anything that wasn’t their baby.

Worse yet, I may have suffered post-natal depression from the lack of adult contact.

But Facebook has given me a way of staying in touch. I love looking at everyone’s children and how they’re growing up. I love seeing my friends grow older and turn around and deny it’s happening to me too.

While I love Facebook, I’m aware of how it can be abused. There are the social crimes of status updates being used to have fights with boyfriends, or Christians asking us to post anti-homosexual content.

There’s a sort of a hijacking that goes on. One high-profile, political “friend” has been tagged in pictures, which are basically advertisements for extreme causes, because she has a good reputation and a large number of “friends”.

I find it ironic that the last time she was used like this, it was by an Aboriginal group. They would cry foul if an image of theirs was exploited, particularly if the image was of deceased kin.

I had a similar problem with photos of my daughter being tagged with names of people I didn’t know. I had the privacy settings of photos set to “friends only”. But if they’re tagged with the name of a person who has their privacy setting to “everyone” that image is out there.

When Bundaberg girl Trinity Bates was murdered by a person her parents befriended on Facebook, I took all the images of my daughter down. Sad for friends and family who want to see her grow up, but its the only way to keep her safe.

While I would never put up a “tribute” page myself, I understand that some people want to create a page to remember their loved ones. It’s not unlike the crosses we see at the site of fatal accidents.

What I don’t understand are people who find it necessary to make nasty or profane comments about the deceased person. One psychologist calls it emotional terrorism. I call it mean and nasty.

Identity theft continues to worry me. My grandmother used to shred all her correspondence, a carry over from WWII when everyone worried about spies finding out where our troops were.

Since watching her do this when I was 18, I’ve made a habit of shredding my identifying mail and burning it. Since I got the compost heap, I shred it and mix it in with manure and egg shells.

In the same way, I don’t publish my birthday or address in the information section of my Facebook page. Even though removing this information upset a few people who missed my last year.

But that information is available on the electoral roll - a public document available to us all. Maybe it’s not as threatening when it’s in hard copy?
So as much as I love Facebook, and I love the access it gives me to my friends and former colleagues, I am wary of it.

I always remember the wise words of a man who developed nuclear technology for use in medicine: use technology, but don’t let technology use you.

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69 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • acotrel says:

      05:46am | 03/02/11

      Sooner or later you have a choice to make.  If you want to participate in our democracy, you risk making yourself a target.  You need to recognise that risk and control it. I’ve never accessed Facebook, and never intend to.  I’m not paranoid, but I feel it is not appropriately controlled.  Identity theft is a worry, but so is any other type of crime.  You can spend your whole life being afraid of things which might never happen.

      Reply

    • Clancy of Sydney says:

      12:46pm | 03/02/11

      Sorry, but Australian parents simply will not listen to this (aside from what you say about face book). They must protect their children from every possible danger to extremes that would even make the worst schizophrenics turn their heads and think “their crazy”! It is the Australian way now days, sad but true. No wonder teenagers run wild, after all those years being squished in an iron press of over protection!

    • VampiresSuck says:

      05:52pm | 04/02/11

      I’m with ya. I have never used facebook, but has one of us here, on this forum, never heard a story of people being murdered or other horrible things like that, because of facebook beebo or _____ you get the idea.
      Yes, identety theft is a worry, but only to a degree. It’s not….. you don’t have to be paranoid about it.

    • Grumpy says:

      08:46am | 03/02/11

      The worst thing about Facebook is people who use Facebook.

      Reply

    • The Buzz says:

      03:26pm | 03/02/11

      The worst thing about people is people…..

    • Dont do social networking says:

      09:37am | 04/02/11

      Concur, I have seen marriages, friendships (real, not facebooks) and business relationships fail because of this incideous website. A friend to me is somebody who I spend real social time with. I can’t understand why people need to regress and find the people from their past. They are long gone for a reason. Move forward and stop going backwards.

    • Muz says:

      09:20am | 03/02/11

      This makes me sigh. I’m a firm believer that Facebook is a large factor in all that is wrong with todays society. The fact a 30 something year old woman has turned to it due to “lack of adult contact” is really sad. Julia - you are deluding yourself. It’s not real. It’s a screen. Deactivate immediately and actually go and visit your friends and their children. It is a blight on society that breeds illiteracy, vanity, ignorance, hermits and promiscuity. At best, it is psuedo-communication and the only people that can be forgiven for using it are children. Do yourself a favour and deactivate.

      Reply

    • Macca says:

      10:46am | 03/02/11

      @Muz, “I’m a firm believer that Facebook is a large factor in all that is wrong with todays society” ... ” It’s not real. It’s a screen”.

      Alas, you miss what so many of Gen X & Y experience every day; that on online and virtual experiences can be a great way to stay in touch with people you normally can’t or won’t, and that relationships can be fostered in this manner.

      That is not to say that these relationships will ever be as rewarding or enjoyable as a face-to-face interaction, but that real joy can be achieved by communicating with people who are not in your immediate vacinity.

      This is why games like World of Warcraft are so popular. In fact, I’d argue it’s one of the reasons The Punch is so popular; it allows people to have a conversation and foster relationships that they would normally unlikely have.

    • Petar says:

      11:25am | 03/02/11

      This is very funny. Are you serious? You’re posting on a forum, giving advice in the same medium as Facebook. Oh the irony.

    • Tim the Toolman says:

      11:34am | 03/02/11

      I’m a firm believer that people posting on internet forums/blogs about how impersonal facebook is, are a large factor in all that is wrong with today’s society.  Muz - you are deluding yourself. It’s not real. It’s a screen. Deactivate immediately and actually go and debate with real people and their groups.  It is a blight on society that breeds illiteracy, vanity, ignorance, hermits and promiscuity.

      At best, it is psuedo-communication and the only people that can be forgiven for using it are children. Do yourself a favour and deactivate.

      Hmmm…..

    • Erin says:

      12:00pm | 03/02/11

      Muz, many of my friends and family live overseas. What do you suggest I do? Hop on a plane every time I want a chat? Call each and every one of them, at a huge financial cost?

      Keep in mind that the generations before you preached the same story you’re preaching regarding the rise of the telephone as a means of communication. And I bet you thought that they were out of touch, and didn’t know what they were talking about. Do yourself a favour, and don’t get left behind.

    • Britney says:

      01:23pm | 03/02/11

      I used to be a crazed facebook user, and I would check it all the time for the weird buzz I’d get from it. I had to force myself to self regulate, reduce my friends down to 18, make sensible user-choices like not updating my status updates just to see who would comment on it. I suppose at the time it reflected where I was in my life - and I honestly didn’t really have much of a life back then; so it was a bit of a quasi life subsitute. By the way, the best thing I ever did was remove the facebook app from my iphone.

    • Moggy says:

      09:32am | 04/02/11

      Muz, I have to agree with you that ‘Facebook is a large factor in all that is wrong with todays society.” But I’ll take it a step further & add that mobile phones in the hands of kids & teenagers have become a weapon also. I used to do voluntary work with teenagers & some of the stuff that they showed me on their mobile phones was sickening at best & diabolical at it’s worst. It was nothing but a “real giggle” to spread graphic images via their phones, of young teenage girls haveing sex with several boys, all at once because they thought it would lead them being popular. And these kids were from so-called good families, & went to private schools. In informing the parents of this horror I was met with “Oh but the kids need mobile phones in order to be able to call us if they need help!” HELLO…..If your kid needed help as you claim, it would still take the cops & you ten minutes at the very least to get to their assistance!” My two sons & my daughter all caught buses to & from school from an early age. They knew that the best weapon against predators is to scream, which is what my daughter did some years later when a “sicko” started masturbating in front of her on a street in broad daylight. Within a matter of seconds people were flocking around her, & the “sicko” was arrested in a citizens arrest, still with his marvellous joy-stick in his hand!! Mobile phones & the internet are slowly turning our culture into something that I believe will be the end of Western civilisation because we are becoming far too tolerant of stuff that needs to be stopped.

    • Sludger says:

      09:36am | 03/02/11

      I had a Facebook page and got rid of it.  I do, however, use email to keep in regular touch with my friends.  Being ex-service a lot of my mates are all over the country - indeed a few are overseas.  But email is a great way to stay in touch.  But unlike Facebook, I control what goes out.  If I want to send a photo, it is one I select.  Also, because most emails actually say something, I don’t mind reading them. Wheras my Facebook page would present me with a string of people saying riveting things like “tired today”  or “had a great lunch”.  wow!  So, I do use technology, I simply do it in a manner that is less likely to abuse.

      Reply

    • MK says:

      12:15pm | 03/02/11

      You also control what goes up on YOUR profile,
      same as you would for email YOU send out,
      You have no control on what other people put up about you or photos of you,
      much liek you have no control over what other epople send on email about you or photos of you,
      with facebook you just might notice at one more degree of seperation ,
      where as with email you would not know until it was forwarded to you

    • Erick says:

      10:26am | 03/02/11

      @muz - Breeding hermits and promiscuity at the same time seems like a pretty impressive achievement.

      Reply

    • Aaron says:

      02:59pm | 03/02/11

      statistically speaking horny hermits are on the rise.

    • want to add me? says:

      10:31am | 03/02/11

      The majority of the people that detest facebook you will find are all of gen x or baby boomers and the ones from Gen Y that detest it are simply doing it as a form of social unconformity.
      I have a facebook, I like it, I use it daily. This doesn’t mean I’m stuck at home all day. It’s for when I am at work during my breaks, or when my mates busy so ill chat to him before he gets off facebook.
      Its basically the same as phone calls, just another medium of contact. Not everyone has the time to go out, let alone the money, the transport.. a number of reasons. This doesn’t mean they should not be allowed to keep in contact with thier friends in any means they can.
      I admit there is alot of trivial nonsense on there but at the heart of site its simply about talking to your friends and seeing what they are up to.
      im 23 and I grew up with ever changing mobiles, social internet sites and constant contact with the world. I’m not saying it’s healthy or is needed but that’s the way it is, it has been incorporated into my life as daily part of my routines and I think nothing of it. If I don’t manage to get on it doesn’t phase me, that usually means I’m hanging out with my mates at the pub or something.

      and in reply to sludger: if you don’t like the status updates then delete that person and stop whinging about it. You are only allowed the whinge about things that are out of your control. Also, emails are becoming outdated with social sites incorporating everything you need in one. Thats just how it is, get used to it because it isn’t going to change anytime soon.

      Reply

    • Maedhra says:

      11:11am | 03/02/11

      I’m with you.  Facebook is a great tool for keeping up with mates who are scattered across the world or just in social circles that occasionally touch.  It is not the root of all evil.  It is not replacing face to face interaction.  It does not breed hermits, promiscuity or whatever else Muz reckons it does. 

      I’m not Gen Y.  I am very firmly in the Gen X group.  I use facebook daily to keep up with friends and family across Australia and overseas.  It’s not necessarily as personal as having a one on one conversation, but it keeps us involved in each other’s lives where we might not otherwise have any contact at all. 

      Really, it is nothing to be afraid of.  Just because it isn’t what you’ve grown up with, does not make it wrong.  Try something new, you curmudgeons and naysayers.

      And as for privacy, I’m sorry, but if you have a phone, a credit card, a library card, a driver’s license, an internet account, a house, a rental agreement, a bank account, in fact, if you leave your house at all - you have none.  If you’re not doing anything to be ashamed about, what are you worried about?

    • Matt says:

      11:15am | 03/02/11

      Well I note you said ‘the majority’ and recognise that we all have our own reasons. I’m gen y and I don’t like facebook, but not just as a form of social unconformity.

      I basically just see facebook as completely fake and boring. It’s fake in that it’s pretending to care about people that you wouldn’t bother keeping in contact with in real life. It’s boring, in that it’s difficult to get beyond the immensely mundane and trivial. Even if the person were my best friend I still couldn’t care less if they purchase some stupid hat or found a 5 cent piece on the ground.

      I can appreciate what you’re saying though, and recognise people use it differently. Maybe you only talk to your ‘real friends’ on facebook. Maybe you actually have meaningful or fulfilling talks on facebook. But for me personally, I just invite my real friends around to my house and let the quasi-friends be.

    • Sludger says:

      11:19am | 03/02/11

      @want to add me.  Cranky little thing aren’t you?  A few things, I did delete people who were wasting time. Second, who are you to tell me what I am allowed to do?  Also I rather doubt that emails are outdated.  Social sites incorporate nothing I need, as I simply use email.  Are you seriously saying email will be no more?  And I don’t have to get used to anything I don’t feel like.  I am allowed to chose what medium I use, what forms of communications suit me best.  Just because things change does not make them better.  You obviously accept that your privacy can be abused or identity compromised.  I accept that this can happen but I take steps to minimise the risk.  Now go have a nice sleep and be a happy little thing in the afternoon.

    • Muttley says:

      11:28am | 03/02/11

      you want to contact someone? Try picking up a phone for some real interaction. You’ll be amazed by how people actually respond to a voice rather than just more bloody spam.

    • JewelsoftheBeaches says:

      11:44am | 03/02/11

      i don’t think sludger was whinging, it was his opinion and he didn’t like it so he did something about. i enjoy facebook, but hate the timewasters, with cryptic or boring messages, so just block their posts - i’m not whinging, this is my opinion and i have done something about it.

    • want to add me? says:

      12:50pm | 03/02/11

      @Sludger. My point was with the whinging is that you can’t use the fact that people put up boring status updates as a reason to condemn it.
      Also, that’s fine if you want to use your phone or something, I am pretty sure it doesnt affect the 500million users facebook has, but as medium for real time chats that include being able to see pics for your coast weekend while talking about it works well.
      Lastly, my identity will not be abused because I am not frivolous with the info I put out there. I dont put bank details, phone numbers or addresses on there and of you’re that afriad on online identity theft then you wouldn’t be able to use it at all. It really isnt that hard to find out someones IP address and locate it to the very house, nor is it to remotely control your computer if it’s on at home and connected to the net. So the whole privacy thing is a non-issue when it comes to facebook. YOU choose what you want on there and that’s that.

      @Matt. I work long hours and my mates have different work times to me. So it’s not as easy as inviting them over whenever I want or going to theres hence why facebook is of use.

      @muttley. I think your missing the point. Facebook statuses are there for the person to put what they want, if you want to comment, go ahead, if not, breeze over it. Normally I use facebook chat to speak to someone I really want too(not unlike msn), instead of using my fones plan. I will use the phone of course depending who it is etc.

      anyways I’m at work currently, hence the lashing out raspberry

    • acotrel says:

      10:31am | 03/02/11

      I live in a country town where there are real people!

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      12:05pm | 03/02/11

      Yeah, but country people ? No eye contact, chewin on a straw ?
      I don’t think so.

    • acotrel says:

      10:36am | 03/02/11

      I use the forums to pursue my hobby.  You still get idiots who will flame you.  But the wider audience of your peers places a bit of restraint on the scene.  I’m sure my posts on The Punch will affect my future job prospects, but the morons who might use that stuff against me can get stuffed! I don’t want to work anyway!

      Reply

    • Peter says:

      02:12pm | 03/02/11

      “I don’t want to work anyway! “

      Spoken like a true Labor voter.

    • Mad Max says:

      11:49am | 03/02/11

      Why bicker about lamebook when you can all get together and design and build a nuclear cannon big enough to blast that giant planet thats on a crash course with the earth about to hit in december 2012???? You time wasters its just like that scene from Ricky Bobby where the driver Ricky Bobby replaces is eating a burger during a driver change….seriously….facebook and telling people not to use it is so petty compared to the bigger picture…People who complain make me angry. At least you weren’t stuck in a POW camp like my ancestors.

      Reply

    • wonko speaks says:

      12:09pm | 03/02/11

      Everything in the world that humanity has created has potential for good or ill.  Technology is no different except to say that the more flexibility, speed and versatility something comes with, the quicker and more potent can be its misuse.

      At the end of the day, the human mind contrived to create an illusion of safety and perpetuality about life.  But it was always an illusion.  Look about the world and this is clear.  Technology, like money, seems to offer an almost god-like power to achieve and protect yet with it comes the almost demon-like ability to deny both of these.

      Being careful is the best and only option.  Oh, and to stop assuming that you can ever be truly safe.

      Reply

    • M says:

      12:43pm | 03/02/11

      I am a 38 year old female who uses Facebook but have noticed how it is starting to affect my moods and am going to nip it on the bud.  It’s usually when I’ve been defriended by someone I would consider I had a healthy online/personal relationship with, if someone doesn’t respond/like my status update etc, doesn’t invite me to an event etc.  Now before you call me egotistical or say boo hoo, I am saying that thankfully I recognise this is a problem as I am what I would consider to be very level headed.  I’m thinking there are people out there who maybe aren’t so aware and this becomes a real problem.

      Reply

    • Karen says:

      01:32pm | 03/02/11

      Wow - you have got a problem M!  Off to Facebook’s newly developed club “Nigel No-Friends Anonymous” with you!  Psst .... don’t take it so personally!  Or here’s a thought - get off it completely!  After all, it was designed by kids, for kids, not grown ups!

    • M says:

      03:45pm | 03/02/11

      Haha, I’m starting Facebook rejection therapy next week!  I think because the amount of people you have online is a hundred fold what you would have in the real world and any rejection appears amplified.  I just hope people don’t make FB their reality.

    • KD says:

      01:00pm | 03/02/11

      What on earth is this article trying to say?  Sounds like you should go back to a proper job after all, Julia, instead of writing a long, rambling, conflict-filled stream of consciousness about ..... nothing, really.

      Reply

    • LOL! says:

      01:35pm | 03/02/11

      Which is ironically what FB is mostly about…

    • Weary says:

      01:09pm | 03/02/11

      Facebook offers nothing that email hasn’t offered for decades.  Yes, you can send me pictures of yourself via email too - and just like on facebook, I won’t look at them, cos your holiday snaps are SOOOO boring and frankly you need to get over yourself.  Facebook is for people who don’t realise that only their mother thinks they’re special.  The rest of us just want you to grow up.

      Reply

    • Aaron says:

      03:07pm | 03/02/11

      facebook isn’t about the exchange of information, its about networking and social dynamics.

      and just because you don’t have any friends that are important enough to you to spend 2 min looking at the amaizing places they have been that they wish to share with you doesn’t mean no one is interested.

      Don’t be so self centered.

    • Marcus says:

      01:23pm | 03/02/11

      i agree with “Grumpy” - the biggest problem with all these technologies is the users.  what on earth makes people think that we want to know everything that is going on in their lives or their innermost thoughts.  I for one am heartily sick of being subjected to the pompous, overbearing, self-opinionated thoughts of a particular person in my life on twitter - i constantly get sent links - click, delete is how i deal with it. I am not on facebook or any other excuse for contact with real people.

      Reply

    • NicoleG says:

      01:40pm | 03/02/11

      Hahaha, so what’s Twitter then?

    • David V. says:

      01:26pm | 03/02/11

      The Internet is a tool, how it effects you is entirely down to how you use it. Facebook and other such tools are an all too easy target but it’s all too lazy to blame technology when society goes wrong.

      Instead, one needs to look at the ills of our society- namely the self-obsessed materialism and egoism of ordinary people, the increasing atomisation and disconnection, and the insecurity of people despite material progress. Blaming Facebook et al is the easy way out- try and sort the root cause of societal ills first.

      Reply

    • Tori says:

      01:38pm | 03/02/11

      For everyone saying that they email everything, and email is better.  Talk to any certified IT Professional.  Email will eventually go by the wayside.  More businesses are using Facebook or other social network programs, as a tool, both for advertising and recruitment.  While yes email is still strong and the main source of communication, perhaps one day it may be like snail mail, and only a few use it, while more embrace a social network.  There have always been bad people, they used to knock on your door and sell stuff, they used to ring you over the phone, or even just steal the mail out of your letter box.  These con/scams are still all about only now they use a social network, so it is not new.  I embrace Facebook, but I do limit my friends, and do not add phone numbers, addresses to my profile, my daughter is not allowed to list her real age nor her school, nor any photos of her in school uniform.  It is not the tool that is to blame,  but the user who does not think of anything (these people are often as thoughtless offline as well!).

      Reply

    • deedeewhy says:

      02:31pm | 03/02/11

      Never used it and do not intend to use it anytime soon, and certainly not having it in my life will make it any better or worse, so as far as I’m concerned, who cares.

    • Miles says:

      02:53pm | 03/02/11

      Tori, you are deluded.  What business would willingly store all it’s sensitive data / emails on servers outside of it’s own secure, internal network?  There is absolutely no way social media will replace email systems for this very reason.  There is absolutely no guarantee of security and no business will even remotely risk storage of their sensitive data in an unsecure environment.

    • Nigel says:

      02:56pm | 03/02/11

      Certified IT professionals hate real life interaction.  lol.
      Yes more businesses are using social network programs but so what.
      That’s just because everyone else is. Is there a benefit? It’s just another web presence.
      I’m on farcebook but I really don’t use it that much. I don’t see the point.
      To me it’s kind of like gossip magazines. It has no depth, I’ll read the stuff if its there but if It has no real impact on my life.  If it’s something important my friends will ring me up.

    • Stevo says:

      10:55pm | 03/02/11

      Hi, I’m a certified it pro, I don’t use facebook, got better things to do, in the corporate world I use ms share point, which has a cool social network tool called my sites which is great for communicating with colleages, can’t see email disappearing anytime soon. Also we have embraces facebook only from an advertising point of view…

    • Maedhra says:

      01:51pm | 03/02/11

      Root cause of societal ills?  That’s an easy one!  It’s people.

      Reply

    • TheRealist says:

      02:07pm | 03/02/11

      Like so many other forms of technology in the form of “Communications,” peop;e are becoming addicted to it.
      I would estimate that at least 90% of 10-30 year-olds are indeed addicted to their Mob phones. 
      There’s very little social interaction on public transport these days; the dangers of crossing a road with ear phones in…society is on a downward spiral, and it’s not pretty.

      Make me “king for a week” and I’d turn off the sataliite dishes that transit all this techo stuff to our youth etc.

      Get back to basics people, before it’s too late. Otherwise you will all be ruled by the others…

      Reply

    • Kathrine Grant says:

      07:04am | 04/02/11

      I often wonder what will happen when electriicity is knocked out for for a couple of weeks.

    • Sneezy says:

      02:17pm | 03/02/11

      What is Facebook. Is this something like The Magic Mirror, from our Snow White story?  Poor Julia.  Try not to be too sad.  I do hope you recover.

      Reply

    • HT says:

      02:22pm | 03/02/11

      People worry too much about photographs on the internet. Quite frankly I couldn’t give a toss who sees my picture on Facebook, after all, I walk down the street every day and people see me there too! Sure, identity theft is a possibility but so is a lot of things (like getting hit by a car) I’m hardly going to grind my teeth over anything that could possibly go wrong. The other thing that makes me scratch my head is people who worry that Facebook is selling their information to companies… Well no shit! So does google! Welcome to the internet. How do you think Facebook makes their money? If you’re that worried about what they’re selling to companies, just don’t put it on your Facebook page. Pretty damn simple.

      Reply

    • Miles says:

      02:43pm | 03/02/11

      There’s people who ‘use’ Facebook and then there’s people who ‘abuse’ Facebook.  Everybody has at least 1 (usually more) serial poster in their friends list who updates their status etc with the most innane stuff constantly.
      While it can easily be used by many people without it affecting their lives somewhat, it really tends to feed off the insecurity of the masses.  It gives the illusion that people are somehow ‘missing out’ on something if they’re not on there all the time.  So many people trying to outdo each other in desperate screams for attention - and I must say that stay at home mothers are the worst offenders in general!!!
      It can easily form an addiction to most by giving the feeling that they are actually involved with people - when in reality they are not.
      People with real life skills generally use it as a tool and nothing more.

      Reply

    • photo tagging says:

      02:47pm | 03/02/11

      Julia,

      You do know you can disable photo tagging without your approval right.  this would solve you concern people tagging you in photos or tagging your photos.

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      03:55pm | 03/02/11

      Thank you for warning me of the dangers of social networking in this community forum.

      Cheers.

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      04:01pm | 03/02/11

      I love Facebook. The one place in the world everyone has perfect lives, perfect kids, perfect careers,perfect partners, perfect holidays etc

      Where are all the chicks that got knocked up and ended up with 6 kids to 9 blokes and now live in a caravan out the back of Beenleigh and spend every Friday and Saturday at the local looking to latch onto the father of their next child? Instead of a ‘Cities that I’ve visited’ bragging chart they could have a chart mapping all the nations that blokes they’ve rooted have come from. Those morons who dropped out in Grade 10 could pin all the places they’ve been incarcerated in or show the locations of the children they avoid paying Child Support for.

      But no….we’ve got to read about all these perfect people constantly…makes me sick I tell you!

      Reply

    • KP says:

      04:01pm | 03/02/11

      @Matt: “But for me personally, I just invite my real friends around to my house and let the quasi-friends be.”

      Ah, lucky you. You live within a few kms of all your friends! Wonderful!

      I, however, don’t. I’m at the start of Gen Y and love Facebook. It is the only way I can keep in touch with my friends and family all over the world - and Australia. I wish it was around when I was living overseas 10 years ago.

      I’m watching my nieces and nephews grow up; seeing my friend’s new baby; loving the wedding photos; drooling over the latest holiday pics; looking forward to seeing the house finally built; glad to see regular snapshots of my friends’ daily lives.

      I don’t add anyone if I don’t know them personally. I won’t appear in any searches, and my privacy is set to the highest possible.

      Facebook is a valuable tool and one I enjoy using. Without it, keeping close to my great friends would be so much more difficult. Not to mention expensive!

      Reply

    • Mary Monica Roche says:

      04:16pm | 03/02/11

      The inventors of new technology are in a rat race to make each other’s technology as obsolete as fast as they can and run the world off its legs with endless necessay technologic change as fast as technologic change can change..
      All the recent great revolutions have statred as technologic revolutions.
      We are all victims of technology as our lives change as fast as technology changes.
      We can ignore technologic changes and still catch up as those technologic changes are replaced by yet more technology changes

      Reply

    • Dave says:

      04:27pm | 03/02/11

      Today’s reliance on computers from the younger generation is astounding. You should see some of my flatmates if they are without the internet for even just one njight, it is like they have had their leg cut off. It is pathetic really they can’t exist without the internet.

      Reply

    • Mayday says:

      05:03pm | 03/02/11

      Amazed how we mothers survived before Facebook and as far as “emotional terrorism” goes if you put it out in the public domain what would you expect?!!

      Reply

    • faceblock says:

      05:07pm | 03/02/11

      I have found that most people who complain about Facebook dont know how to use them and don’t know much about how the internet works. FB gives the option of adding and deleting friends, tagging or not tagging, blocking etc so that you can control things. I can post a photo on FB and friends could copy and email it through their Hotmail to others. I can email a photo through my Hotmail and friends could do the same.  When you add friends, you add people who trust. If they post idiotic nonsense then you can hide them without entirely deleting/blocking your friend. I think before people complain they should assess their needs. Do not bag something you dont understand or something you dont need. You use what you need, leave FB to those who find it useful.

      Reply

    • VampiresSuck says:

      05:54pm | 03/02/11

      Really people? Sure, facebook is a great way to let out steam, be creative, and talk to people overseas. But so is emailing and texting! Come on people! Fresh air and a life is what most of you need!
      I don’t want to be rude, but @sludger I’m with you, and @want to add me? go for a sleep.

      Reply

    • matt says:

      11:43pm | 03/02/11

      worked well for me chatting to multiple people at a time during cyclone yasi. if u dont like it dont go on it, let alone complain on a news forum about it

      Reply

    • Patch Adams says:

      04:56am | 04/02/11

      What’s happened to the world? If you have friends overseas and all round the world, send them an email. If you have friends around the corner, use the phone or go over there and say hi. It’s sad to see people so reliant on facebook to check peoples status’. Yes it’s good for some things, but face it, it ruins lives

      Reply

    • Independent Parent says:

      09:49am | 04/02/11

      How does Facebook ‘ruin lives’? Not an attack, simply a query.

    • VampiresSuck says:

      05:46pm | 04/02/11

      @Independent Parent. No, this isn’t an attack. But there are stories all over the world of young people agreeing to meet up with someone, and getting murdered, or raped, or robbed. But that is just the extreameties. It probably also includes tunnel vision, bad health, obsesion, blah blah blah. Get the idea?
      Hopes this helps!

    • AW says:

      07:12am | 04/02/11

      Everything in moderation. It is easy to get sucked into it and spend hours on it. If you can limit yourself to just adding friends who are truly friends, and spending only an hour a day or whatever amount of time suits you and doesn’t interrupt your “real” life, then why not? You can control how much you share, who you are friends with, and what goes on. I have family and friends in the US, England, NZ who it is great to keep up with. I’d much rather the interaction on FB than getting/sending mass emails once every few months to hear what is going on with someone.

      Reply

    • Steve says:

      08:48am | 04/02/11

      I spent many years as a tour driver for international tourist (3 week tours) it is great to hear from the old passengers on FB and what has happened in their lives since they were young backpackers here.
      For those saying turn off Facebook and get out and get a life, that is what I do every weekend thanks to Facebook, my social life has gone crazy since I joined Facebook, instead of the old ring every friend and find out what they are up to on the weekend I can ask all friends on Facebook what is happening on the weekend. And for those worried about people they dont know seeing their posts/info lock your privacy down to friends only and don’t post personal info and only add those people you know and trust.
      Control Facebook don’t let Facebook control you
      And I must add I do laugh at the trolls that search every news site for Facebook stories to bag saying get outside and get a life, maybe they should lead by example

      Reply

    • David Springthorpe says:

      08:55am | 04/02/11

      For those that say they hate it because of the friends inane posts and all the game posts it is quite simple to control it. When a friend posts crap on the right of their post their is a X click it and click HIDE poster.  They are still your friend but you don’t see their rubbish.
      To clean up the game/application posts get Firefox browser then download greasemonkey and go to userscripts.org and download FFixer. You can then control what appears on your news feed and have no ads.  (Google Chrome does the same without needing greasemonkey.)

      Reply

    • kosmos says:

      09:25am | 04/02/11

      The choices regarding Facebook really are quite simple, if you value your privacy then do not use it or if you must and are concerned about privacy, supply it with a fake identity when you register. Otherwise feel free.

      There is a serious lack of respect at play here in many comments that seek to downplay or negate the real impact of these kinds of services. Even those of equivalents like LinkedIn which specifically caters to helping you manage your business and professional relationships. The only questions revolve around your personal participation; the amount of time committed to it and; careful consideration regarding what to post.

      Reply
 
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