After reading a few articles in my CARNA magazine about nurses who required discipline after things they had posted on facebook, I decided it was time for me to leave.
I haven't been on facebook for about a month now. Thus far only two people have noticed my absence. (Friends that have mentioned it anyway). Two out of 300+ friends. These two friends I see on a weekly basis, no need for facebook anyway "to keep in touch".
I also didn't trust facebook anymore. I had my security very high and deleted just about everything from view including pictures and personal info. A few months ago I had a "friend request" from a man I had never heard of. I asked him if I knew who he was and had forgotten our relationship. He told me that he noticed we were from the same hometown and no we didn't know each other. I replied to tell him that since I didn't know him I didn't feel it would be appropriate to be facebook friends. He then informed that facebook was for meeting new people and making friends. Weird... I'm married with kids why would I want to be facebook friends with a middle-aged man I didn't know? However my biggest question is how did he know where I was from when I had hidden all that from view?
Anyway enough with facebook.
Please, please don't think that I deleted you as a friend, I have only deleted myself.
Stories like this only make me all the more grateful that I never started FB in the first place. But that's just me. And we have only allowed our kids to once they turn 18 and can make that decision on their own. One never chose it. One did and then quit after a few months because of all the "drama" that was going on among "friends" and one has his on hold till after he is off mission.
ReplyDeleteIt really can be a scary thing. What a strange request from a strange man! Yikes! Thanks for sharing your story. ; D
Facebook certainly can be a double edged sword. I know for myself since I rarely stay in one place or even one country these days, there are a lot of people I would not still be in contact with if it wasn't for Facebook. I wouldn't get to watch a lot of my friends' kids grow up if it wasn't for Facebook (not everyone has a blog). And I wouldn't be able to share my life and my stories with a lot of people if it wasn't for Facebook (not everyone reads my blog).
ReplyDeleteTrue there is a lot of drama that can go on. Some I can do without and let's face it, some I cause myself. Anytime you join a semi-private forum where people can share stories and opinions and ideas that has to be expected. But no matter how "private" you think it is.....it's on the internet. There is no such thing as privacy on the internet. What happens on Facebook doesn't stay on Facebook.....as much as we would like it to.
Really, I think you either like it or you don't, you use it or you won't. And I learned a long time ago if a stranger sends you a friend request and you are pretty sure you don't know them, just delete it. Don't respond because the second you respond, you open up a whole lot more of your profile information to them.
Oh and check your privacy settings at least once a month. They get changed all the time and information that you once marked "private" all of a sudden become "public" (probably how that guy learned you were from the same home town. Just facebook's way of making networking easier for us all).
And no Meg, I won't miss you on Facebook. Your blog keeps us all posted well enough. You do a much better job of staying on top of things than I do.
I have my security very high and have "cleansed" my "friends" many times...although why I still have 200+ "friends" I'll never understand! I try to be careful to what I post and just share my personal blog and Flickr pictures with close family and friends. I'll be coming back to work soon and I'm glad I have your blog address! I hope we can "rekindle" our friendship through those ways!! :)
ReplyDeleteI was wondering where you went!
ReplyDeleteJosh G