Facebook, which began as a way to connect students at Harvard, now has a population greater than most countries. The site has become a staple in the lives of many of its 600 million members. It is where people store and share photos, plan and organize events, communicate with the people in their lives. It's become a hub for news and link/video sharing. It's a marketing tool, a place to promote one's business and professional endeavors.
It is also ruining our lives.
Oh, sure, sometimes it seems innocent enough. Sign onto Facebook, visit a Friend's Farm. Poke a few Pals. "Like" everybody's everything. Share the vapid details of your morning commute. What's the harm?
Look, we can't all view the world through rose-colored laptop screens. So we here at Internet Evolution have taken the lead and determined the 10 Ways Facebook Is Destroying Our Lives.
If you think that's a scary premise, consider this: We only stopped at 10 because we got tired and hungry – and because we needed to get back to catching up on all of the Facebook Newsfeed updates we missed while we were writing.
From the fact that Facebook is a flowing faucet of data to everyone from advertisers to the FBI, to the many worrying ways Facebook is blurring the lines between professional and personal – and possibly ensuring that having a career in the future is going to be harder than it's ever been before – there is a lot to be fearful of, where everyone's favorite social network is concerned.
There's little indication that Facebook is disappearing anytime soon, so in the meantime the best we can do is make ourselves aware of the many ways life (as we know it) is changing for the worse with every status update, picture, and link we post. So click through the following 10 pages, and afterwards, if you aren't too busy rocking back and forth in a puddle of your own sweat and tears, be sure to tell us on the boards below what you think and what we missed.
And feel free to share this link on Facebook... if you dare.
Okay, a while back when I was unemployed, I might have accepted that FB was bad for me, but now as an employer, I would very much like to know the character of the people I'm hiring. I knew someone who used to end the formal interview with a candidate, then very politely walk them to their car (not in New York City, of course--what car?). You can tell a lot about a person by the way their car looks...
And about those people who were robbed? Think of it from the police's point of view. They CAUGHT all those thieves/burglars because they WERE "friends" with the victim. Without Facebook, it would have been much harder to track them down.
There's two of your reasons all shot to hell...if you look at them correctly!
Ah, you are always armed with the perfect opposing argument, modza! OK, so, good point: For all of those doing the peering, Facebook serves a great purpose!
For those being peered at... the average, oversharing users, that is... not so much.
Every example that you used could just have easily been accomodated on another social site, or even in RL.
Please.
Facebook is Facebook. If you are going to talk about IT trends that truly put us in peril then talk about APT or the cyber battle for surreptitious control of computer systems to be used at a boherder's bidding. Or talk about how the United States doesn't have a cohesive cyber defense (or offense) plan.
There are many other things that represent a much larger threat to the cyber world than facebook.
You are the envy of those of us who are still expected to use Facebook for professional purposes... promoting content, making connections, etc.
Also, I think a lot of users are falling into the trap of relying on it too much as a storage space for photos and links to certain people who they don't otherwise have contact info for. Not wise.
My question revolves around the employers use of Facebook. The fact that I am not a subscriber to Facebook, does this make me a pariah to employers? Am I to believe my resume will be overlooked or just ignored if a human resources personnel is unable to get a glean into my personal life online, before contacting me for an
My completely unscientific observation is that people who overshare in general are the ones who will do the same on Facebook. It's your personality, on steroids! Employers and anyone else who uses Facebook to gather information on people must feel that they have hit the jackport with some people.
I have gotten to the point where I no longer want to go on Facebook. I no longer care who posts those darling videos of kittens and puppies. If I want to see the cuteness I can search for it on You Tube. I don't want to support your flavor of the day cause and I don't want to help out on your farm.
Don't get me wrong, it's a great tool for catching up with old friends and keeping in touch with people who live far away, but for some, it's become an escape and there is something really sad about that.
I agree that simple logic can be applied when it comes to posting, but it just doesn't seem like everyone understands this yet. That's why we read countless news stories about people who are *stunned* that their employers found that negative remark they posted about their jobs on Facebook, etc., etc. I don't know what it will take for people to understand that the Internet is a really, really public space.
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The smartphone market reached a significant milestone, a breakthrough that may cause vendors to celebrate but could strain the capabilities of IT service desks.
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