I was never a user of Bebo or MySpace, or any other social networking sites....until the huge wave of response towards Facebook. That was in my first year at University. What attracted my attention to Facebook? Believe it or not it was the fish tank I could have on my wall that could be fed or new fish and sea critters gifted by my friends or myself. No, I didn’t have any real concept of a social networking site back then.
But now, things are different. I appreciate the way I can find people I knew from school, even kindergarten, and see how they are doing. Sometimes I get annoyed by that one “friend” who fails to not have something significant to say every day. I say “friend” with quote marks because that’s the concept enforced onto us by Facebook and other social networking sites. These maybe people who I walk past at Uni or in town and don’t stop to say hi, or just people I felt obliged to accept a friend request from but didn’t really want to forge or re-forge a “friend” relationship.
It’s sad really.
Going back to what I said before, I realise now that I have this understanding that Facebook is for grown-ups (by that I mean, people between the ages of I’m-not-in-High-school/Intermediate to I-don’t-have-grandchildren). And, anyone who doesn’t fall in this bracket, I look at them as being out of place within my friends list. Even seeing those who did not end up as successful as they were made out to be in childhood are made displaced.
I’ve become quite pedantic with the use of text speak on Facebook. The recent thing that I have observed in the younger users is this replacement of g with q...yes, people are shortcutting individual letters now, not just whole words. The next generation isn’t just talking anymore, they’re talkinq...
I guess it’s been socially constructed that Facebook is for the mature, academic, and/or working professionals and that feeds in to my rather irksome experiences with those who don’t fit that criteria.
But now, things are different. I appreciate the way I can find people I knew from school, even kindergarten, and see how they are doing. Sometimes I get annoyed by that one “friend” who fails to not have something significant to say every day. I say “friend” with quote marks because that’s the concept enforced onto us by Facebook and other social networking sites. These maybe people who I walk past at Uni or in town and don’t stop to say hi, or just people I felt obliged to accept a friend request from but didn’t really want to forge or re-forge a “friend” relationship.
It’s sad really.
Going back to what I said before, I realise now that I have this understanding that Facebook is for grown-ups (by that I mean, people between the ages of I’m-not-in-High-school/Intermediate to I-don’t-have-grandchildren). And, anyone who doesn’t fall in this bracket, I look at them as being out of place within my friends list. Even seeing those who did not end up as successful as they were made out to be in childhood are made displaced.
I’ve become quite pedantic with the use of text speak on Facebook. The recent thing that I have observed in the younger users is this replacement of g with q...yes, people are shortcutting individual letters now, not just whole words. The next generation isn’t just talking anymore, they’re talkinq...
I guess it’s been socially constructed that Facebook is for the mature, academic, and/or working professionals and that feeds in to my rather irksome experiences with those who don’t fit that criteria.
I have to agree, although it's nice to see what people that you've lost touch with are up to... Sometimes you lose touch with people for a reason lol.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am now doubting our facebook friendship.... but that's neither here nor there lol. =P
What about those situations when you post someting, or something gets written on your wall that might be relatively personal, although obviously not private. These always make me think of those randoms on my friend list, who I don't 'Know' anymore, but I don't 'not know' either. Where do they fall in terms of privacy, and do we ever really censor ourselves because of these people?
ReplyDelete