The pro's and con's of facebook

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Greenfields

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Hello 🙂 I’m one of those seemingly rare people who don’t have a Facebook account and the pressure is on!I’m in my 40’s and like my personal life and details “contained” so to speak.
I like control and don’t want to be overwhelmed with information be it useful or not.
Are there any here like me?Do I have anything to worry about if I were to join?I’d like to hear of others experience and whether you found it addictive and stepped back for use.
Thanks in advance 🙂
 
I have 4. Seperate Facebook accounts, I have a very wide spectrum of interests ,.
One account is strictly for family,and a couple of long term friends,
I’v never had any problems , I think it depends on what it is you want from it,
Do you know what you want it for ? Family or for interests such as cooking or science
 
I don’t have a facebook account either, and don’t want one. My children update me on what is important for me to know.

There are other ways to communicate with those you wish to do so. E-mail, telephone, and the regular mail.

Several hobbies keep me occupied as well.
 
I don’t have a Facebook account, It’s a complete and total waste of time, in my opinion.
 
My FB account is very useful for me. I have friends, family, old students and co-workers spread around the country and even the world. The opportunity to “see” all of them has meant a great deal to me. In addition, I subscribed to several feeds which provide a great deal of information that I need or want daily. Yes there are other ways to stay in touch or get the information, but they are not as convenient for me as FB. I use the privacy settings carefully and I monitor all of it also.
 
I mostly use mine to share photos and videos on my family with out of state family. I have a very select list and I haven’t had problems. I also use it for a couple of forums and a shop and swap page.
 
I’m a student, so I’ve used Facebook to find a roommate, buy and sell textbooks, send pictures of notes to friends who don’t have smartphones, and ask questions about the stuff I needed to do before I arrived on camous. Other than that, there is only one guy I message on Facebook just to chat sporadically. If you don’t like what someone posts, just unfollow them. Facebook is just what you make it.
 
Greenfields said:
Hello 🙂 I’m one of those seemingly rare people who don’t have a Facebook account and the pressure is on!I’m in my 40’s and like my personal life and details “contained” so to speak.
I like control and don’t want to be overwhelmed with information be it useful or not.
Are there any here like me?Do I have anything to worry about if I were to join?I’d like to hear of others experience and whether you found it addictive and stepped back for use.
Thanks in advance 🙂
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I too am not on Facebook. I left around 6 years ago and have no intention of returning. People I know keep asking me to join Facebook again but I have no need for it in my life and I don’t particularly like my business spread all over social media. I don’t understand the fuss about it, people posting pictures of themselves in the hope others will like and comment on it and telling all their Facebook friends what they ate for lunch that day! I received friend request from people I went to school with and would barely say hi if I met them in public! I don’t get it. Also I didn’t particularly fancy seeing pictures of my ex with his new girlfriend or finding out someone I really liked was dating. For me there is no pro’s with Facebook.
 
anon98328916 said:
I too am not on Facebook. I left around 6 years ago and have no intention of returning. People I know keep asking me to join Facebook again but I have no need for it in my life and I don’t particularly like my business spread all over social media. I don’t understand the fuss about it, people posting pictures of themselves in the hope others will like and comment on it and telling all their Facebook friends what they ate for lunch that day! I received friend request from people I went to school with and would barely say hi if I met them in public! I don’t get it. Also I didn’t particularly fancy seeing pictures of my ex with his new girlfriend or finding out someone I really liked was dating. For me there is no pro’s with Facebook.
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I feel the same as you. I see no pros with Facebook. Even the sharing of photos, especially of children, is dangerous. Child predators are all over Facebook, so I’ve read, and they know how to gain access of private information. I would never put a photo of a child on the Internet, period.
 
In just 8 posts, I think we’ve already seen most of the majors pros and cons listed. 🙂

It can really depend on the person. I know some people can get addicted to the point where they are constantly checking to see what new stuff is there. That can be a problem. Others post far too much personal info without bothering to utilize the privacy features. That can be a problem, too. Others read too much into the interactions and start wondering “Why hasn’t so-and-so commented on my post?” or “What does it mean that this-or-that person ‘liked’ my post?” That can cause problems, too.

But it can be used well, too. You can “like” a lot of Catholic groups and use it as a means for spiritual edification. You can limit who you choose to “friend” so as to avoid unnecessary drama.

I seldom post, and my privacy settings are as restrictive as possible. I’ve never had any issues.
 
Handing parts of your life over to Facebook doesn’t seem like a good idea. Especially when it involves children or people in photographs who don’t know their image is being licensed away. Someone posted a picture on Facebook and I was sitting in the background caught in a not so flattering position. My face wasn’t visible so there was no harm, but that’s just to invasive to individual privacy for comfort.
Needless to say, I don’t have a FB account. CAF is enough public record for me.
 
No Facebook for me. I keep in touch with my family and true friends. I don’t need to read about or see pics of acquaintances. It’s just not important to me. I know that some people use it as a voyeuristic tool, and then gossip about what they saw or read. My daughter will tell me news of someone and I’ll ask how she knew that. FB. Are you friends with them? Only on FB. She keeps her own account highly restricted, but most people don’t.

There are instances where FB can be a very good tool, I get that. But it is also a way of life for some people. Too much time on FB and not enough time with real people. Some people have no real people skills because all they do is like comments and post selfies of themselves making fish faces or holding red solo cups.
 
I don’t have a Facebook account and have no interest in one. I already have enough ways to waste my time without it. I don’t want to give so much personal information to an evil corporation. And Facebook is very evil. Remember when something is free you are the product. I’d also not be surprised if Facebook isn’t really CIAbook. It seems to me that in modern times we have no shame and don’t value privacy at all.
 
Lily_Bernans said:
I feel the same as you. I see no pros with Facebook. Even the sharing of photos, especially of children, is dangerous. Child predators are all over Facebook, so I’ve read, and they know how to gain access of private information. I would never put a photo of a child on the Internet, period.
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That’s true, to think even ten or twelve years ago people would never have dreamed of putting pictures of their children on the Web. Everything is put up on Facebook…does people not think of the dangers? Instragram isn’t much better…
 
exnihilo said:
I don’t have a Facebook account and have no interest in one. I already have enough ways to waste my time without it. I don’t want to give so much personal information to an evil corporation. And Facebook is very evil. Remember when something is free you are the product. I’d also not be surprised if Facebook isn’t really CIAbook. It seems to me that in modern times we have no shame and don’t value privacy at all.
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People used to keep there business private and it was between their family/friends and themselves…I don’t understand why it’s ok to tell the world all your private business nowadays? Facebook should be called “noseybook”.
 
Greenfields said:
Hello 🙂 I’m one of those seemingly rare people who don’t have a Facebook account and the pressure is on!I’m in my 40’s and like my personal life and details “contained” so to speak.
I like control and don’t want to be overwhelmed with information be it useful or not.
Are there any here like me?Do I have anything to worry about if I were to join?I’d like to hear of others experience and whether you found it addictive and stepped back for use.
Thanks in advance :)/QUOTE

If you are willing to learn to use the filters provided, limit your number of friends and avoid online gaming, then there is no reason why FB could not be a nice tool for you to use to keep up-to-date on what matters to you.

FB is the easiest way I know of to share pics of my children, see pics of my grandchild, enjoy long-distance friendship and support for one of my issues and one of my hobbies. I’ve been fortunate to make new friends who share some of my concerns/passions/challenges and enjoy seeing their pics and side-notes from their locations around the globe.

The trick for controlling the information is to strictly limit your “friends” and instead find appropriate “groups” -

The group feature is really handy - it allows you to join a group but they don’t see anything you post outside the group and you don’t see what any group member posts on their personal page (unless you friend them). Some groups are public - anyone can see who’s in it and what they post just by visiting the group. Some are private - only group members can see/read/post.

Ex. - I belong to a group for my township, one for just my neighborhood, one for parents of kids in my school district, another group for a hobby I enjoy, and another for parents of children admitted to a college my son will be going to, and yet another that’s a support group for people dealing with a problem that I share.

I can choose whether the posts from these show up in my “newsfeed” (the constant scrolling list of posts) or if they just sit over there till I click on the group page.

Now I admit, I struggle with online games - there’s always another one to play! And I’ve had to unfriend/hide more than a few people because their posts sent my blood pressure way up. But in general FB has been a huge benefit to me.

I’ve made friends with people who share my interests / issues - more than a few who live thousands of miles from me, which make it even more interesting (imo). We have great discussions, share pics, ideas, and so forth.

And even though we sometimes have nothing in common - I get to keep up with what my nearby neighbors are thinking/experiencing regarding issues of local development, park activities, things going on at the school, traffic issues, crime, fires, lost pets, so forth.

Personally I find this “local news” / “grapevine” to be much more informative than the evening news which I’ve stopped watching. Basically if it’s local enough to effect me or on the other side, a big enough deal to trend on FB, then I’ll know about it - and if it’s neither, then my life is simpler without knowing.
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To me, FB is pretty much all con. In fact, I’d rephrase that as “plot from Hades.” :)🙂

I find no point in looking up people from high school (didn’t like those jerks much then :)) or in getting snowstormed with updates every time some minor acquaintance goes to a party or bar.

There are better venues of time wastage. IMNAAHO

ICXC NIKA
 
The major con of Facebook is that it is liberal. Facebook created a tool for users to overlay their profile image with the rainbow flag to celebrate the Supreme Court decision. That is my main beef with Facebook.
 
FB has saved me thousands of dollars in printing pictures. My MIL has this notion that photographs are free and can be printed on demand. When I was first married, she was always asking for this picture and that picture for her sister, aunt, friend, ect … When the babies came along it got real outta control. Add the cost of time to get to a computer when you have a new born baby! It’s not like the iPhone back then could easily get prints out.

As soon as I started posting on FB, one relative chirped to another, and all of a sudden, I’m richer from not always wasting money on prints (which gets expensive fast) and wasn’t pulling my hair out meeting a demand I could not keep up with.

Now my favorite thing is to make a video of my girls singing happy birthday to (insert relative name) and making the video only available to them. It’s a bigger hit than a card, presents, or money. Plus, as the girls love singing happy birthday they love doing it - win, win, win!

Since the relatives now chat about FB and the pictures, even most of the hatters have joined.
 
Some of the remarks about FB crack me up. The conspiracy theories especially.
Facebook is just that. YOUR face to an online book. You can turn it into whatever you want. If you have a wide variety of interests, as I do, you can post those things that enrich your mind, body or spirit. You post whatever you want. YOU have control over what you post. If you don’t want drama, don’t post it and avoid it.
And for those who think its all a conspiracy.
Do you realize, just by sifting through the various posts here on CAF I can very easily get a profile of who you are, where you live, your job, your marital status, ect? It’s a lot easier than you realize.
Is CAF really CIA?
 
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