# FaceBook: I love to Hate You



## MacDaddy (Jul 16, 2001)

Found this on Craigslist and thought I would share. I got a good laugh from it, as I deleted my account awhile ago (Though not for the reason mentioned here).

best of craigslist : Facebook: I Love to Hate You



> Facebook: I Love to Hate You
> Date: 2007-06-30, 2:18PM EDT
> 
> 
> ...


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

[shudder]

Just reading that makes me re-live my FB phase in all of its sordid non-glory. Glad I backed out when I did.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

One doesn't 'delete' an account, apparently; one 'deactivates' it--difference being that you can simply 'reactivate' your account to find it never really went away. Facebook keeps it cosy for you. It's kind of like a social networking cache/catch.


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## kps (May 4, 2003)

LOL! It is rather ironic that in a previous thread I shot my mouth off against sites like MySpace and Facebook only to relent and end up on Facebook myself due to the gentle urging of friends and family.


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

HowEver said:


> One doesn't 'delete' an account, apparently; one 'deactivates' it--difference being that you can simply 'reactivate' your account to find it never really went away. Facebook keeps it cosy for you. It's kind of like a social networking cache/catch.


Oh, I know it never really goes away, does it? I took careful steps to methodically delete all of my photos, comments, friends, messages, etc... one by freakin' one... took some time to do. However, it's all there on their servers somewhere, I'm sure.

FB creeps me out.... in the end I decided the benefits were outweighed by the creep factor. Too cozy for comfort, if you get my drift.


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

Facebook, Myspace, et al., *meh*. Ain't my cuppa, and never will be. tptptptp 

Amusing quote from Craigslist though.


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## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

I found Facebook to be very useful. You get unlimited storage for your pictures and videos that can be shared with whomever you choose (amongst other useful tools.) Even over the web to non-facebook users via a link given for you to forward.

If you don't like someone, simply ignore them (there's a button for it, too.) It's really easy and you don't have to suffer the indignity of awkward half-assed conversations with people you really don't like.


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## Macified (Sep 18, 2003)

You might want to check the agreements before posting all your pictures to Facebook. If I recall correctly, I saw a statement to the effect that FB gets full use privileges to any photo you put there. Folks going on photography groups and posting their own copyright material could loose control of their product. Keep your pictures limited to snapshots of no commercial value.


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## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

There's nothing that says anything of the kind--that I can find at least. Maybe it's buried somewhere? It does warn people to respect copyright holders of any and all content you post and/or share (articles, photos, videos, etc.).

However I don't have anything in my FB profile that would be deemed valuable to anybody but me or my family/friends.


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

Reminds me of something I was reading in the Globe and Mail some time ago - for some reason Canadians have really taken to FB - per capita in significantly greater numbers than our American friends. Wonder why that is.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

Like Max, I joined, took a look around and got the hell outta Dodge.


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

Know what it was for me? I felt like I was reliving the 70s... the whole me generation thing.

Get to know me. It's all about me. Let me tell you about me, my mind and its fascinating workings, my navel and the fine lint occupuying it. Oh, and did I tell you about my navel? It's really great and it's mine.


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## MacDaddy (Jul 16, 2001)

Personally, I think it's a stalkers paradise. It has all the information you could ever want on somebody, including what they are doing this weekend. 

I don't think anybody should know that much about their friends personal lives, really. If you want to know what they are up to this weekend... ASK!!!!


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## EvanPitts (Mar 9, 2007)

I found it to be rather stupid, in so many ways. Like how it tells you what someone is doing at some given time. Or the number of stupid little social groups that have no purpose. Or perhaps the worst, the length of time it takes to load a page because of people posting stupid graphics (rather than any meaningful messages). It is perhaps less infantile than MySpace is, but that does not say much. And this junk was developed at Harvard??? Goes to prove that after all of these years, Yale is actually superior!

There are a few positives, I suppose, because it does give a place on the Internet for people to "reconnect", but that is not enough reason for me to put any actual effort into the exercise. There is too much emphasis on the whole high school reunion kind of thing, and surely I have less than zero interest in what old girlfriends are up to. It is amazing to see how many people do like to make fools of themselves on Facebook, full proof that **** Sapiens has not attained the apex of the evolutionary ladder. To each their own.


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

> Like how it tells you what someone is doing at some given time. Or the number of stupid little social groups that have no purpose. Or perhaps the worst, the length of time it takes to load a page because of people posting stupid graphics (rather than any meaningful messages).


I understand if you're older than 30-years of age.  For the most part, FB appeals to the 12-25 age group. Their perspective of FB and life is much different. Facebook isn't as "useful" as it is "fun." You just have to have that perspective to enjoy it, though it does have its useful aspects as well. (i.e; organizing events via FB works very well, as well as sharing photos from events, etc.)


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

> Personally, I think it's a stalkers paradise. It has all the information you could ever want on somebody, including what they are doing this weekend.


I don't add anyone to my 'friend' list that's a stalker. One's profile is not accessible to non-Facebook users, nor Facebook users that aren't approved friends. Therefore, saying it's a 'stalkers paradise' holds no ground unless you have your profile privacy settings relaxed to the maximum level possible.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Facebook users are now searchable via Google, whereas before they were not. You can apparently set your search privacy so that this is not the case.


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## MacDaddy (Jul 16, 2001)

Lars said:


> I don't add anyone to my 'friend' list that's a stalker. One's profile is not accessible to non-Facebook users, nor Facebook users that aren't approved friends. Therefore, saying it's a 'stalkers paradise' holds no ground unless you have your profile privacy settings relaxed to the maximum level possible.


Too bad that so many people will just add anybody that asks to their profile. There was a study done, and 68% of people that were asked for a friend request (From a made up profile with no pictures) accepted without question.

Not to mention that most of the FB population has no idea how to set their profiles to private, and their information is open to everybody. Stalkers Paradise.


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

MacDaddy said:


> Too bad that so many people will just add anybody that asks to their profile. There was a study done, and 68% of people that were asked for a friend request (From a made up profile with no pictures) accepted without question.
> 
> Not to mention that most of the FB population has no idea how to set their profiles to private, and their information is open to everybody. Stalkers Paradise.


Stupid people deserve what comes their way.  If you set your privacy preferences accordingly, stalkers aren't a threat. Although really, if you think about, privacy settings by default should be maxed out, not by default set wide open with the _option_ of increasing your privacy. Particularly for those people who don't know and will never find out that their profile is wide open for the world to see.


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

It's not in FB's interests to max out users' privacy settings at default, precisely because the people behind FB _want_ you to be as public as possible... they're using your info, after all, to build consumer and political profiles. That's the seedy underbelly of all popular social networking life. It pays to go into the whole thing with an awareness of just how vulnerable you can be.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Max said:


> It's not in FB's interests to max out users' privacy settings at default, precisely because the people behind FB _want_ you to be as public as possible... they're using your info, after all, to build consumer and political profiles. That's the seedy underbelly of all popular social networking life. It pays to go into the whole thing with an awareness of just how vulnerable you can be.


Oh, they can still scan accounts for political and consumer information, regardless of how deep you set your privacy.

Privacy settings are only good for keeping ordinary joes from seeing who you're doing in that internet-worthy picture, when you're going to be out of your house for several hours or weeks for the purpose of item removal, and just how much spare time on your hands you actually have, with which to manage those 135 'applications.'

Of course, since people will accept just about any fake creation as a friend, nothing stops you from finding out all of the above and more.

Meanwhile, Facebook grows and grows and no doubt its originator will sell the rest of it in a few years for a YouTube-like windfall.


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

True enough about what you say... even if you max out your privacy settings and then methodically remove everything from your account prior to closing it, it's still all there on their servers. It makes me uneasy, but the cat's out of the bag now.

I am only left to wonder what will be the next wave once FB wanes. There is something so faddish about these social networking phases. Where will it all lead to?


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## MacDaddy (Jul 16, 2001)

Max said:


> I am only left to wonder what will be the next wave once FB wanes. There is something so faddish about these social networking phases. Where will it all lead to?


I am wondering that as well. I have been racking my brain trying to figure something out, and when I do... watch for my postings looking for hard core programmers lol.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Max said:


> I am only left to wonder what will be the next wave once FB wanes. There is something so faddish about these social networking phases. Where will it all lead to?


I noticed the other day that Men Without Hats' "Safety Dance" video (don't ask!) had nearly half a million views on YouTube--3,000 since last night, I just checked.

YouTube clearly isn't going away. It appears the good ideas are staying rather than faddish. fb might be around forever.

None of this explains why nearly half a million people would want to watch the "Safety Dance" video, of course; for humour, perhaps. Perhaps the next Facebook involves this group, somehow...

YouTube - Safety Dance- Men Without Hats


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

You could be right, of course, that FB will stick like YouTube. I'm more of the opinion that social networking itself will stick - but that we are going on something of a journey here and FB is not the last stop this train is on.


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

As for Men Without Hats and that infernal tune of theirs, I have no idea why people groove to it. Either it's a deficiency of mine or a small blessing.


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## ComputerIdiot (Jan 8, 2004)

HowEver said:


> I noticed the other day that Men Without Hats' "Safety Dance" video (don't ask!) had nearly half a million views on YouTube--3,000 since last night, I just checked.
> 
> YouTube clearly isn't going away. It appears the good ideas are staying rather than faddish. fb might be around forever.
> 
> ...


Make that 3,001 ... what in the name of heaven was THAT about?! :yikes:


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## kps (May 4, 2003)

Oh my, breastfeeding pics not allowed on Facebook due to their *obscene* content. 

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/255628

Perhaps people should be more descrete in their postings, but what's more natural than breastfeeding your newborn...?


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

Apparently it's really dirty - that's what's unnatural about it. For shame!

Experiments in social networking are not immune to the splinters in greater society - all those fault lines where differing views of religion and morality intersect. I imagine that this is not the last test FB will have to endure.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

<---- FaceBook addict.


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

dona83 said:


> <---- FaceBook addict.


Yep.


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## MacDaddy (Jul 16, 2001)

I don't think social networking will stick in its current iteration, I believe it will be more of a service for many sites out there that will implement it to try and catch up to FB.

I dunno about YouTube either, the video I posted as a joke has over 2000 hits!!!


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

It's quite the arena of competition, and there's money to be made. Yahoo looks like it's going to be offering a range of services closely patterned over the FB model.


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## MacDaddy (Jul 16, 2001)

There is lots of money to be made, too bad none of them have figured out how to do that yet haha.


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

Plus the customer base is nothing if not fickle. If they get even a whiff of uncoolness they can stampede _en masse_ to the Next Great Thing. There is no particular form of loyalty or allegiance on the net.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

.
<==== There might be _some _loyalty and allegiance on the internet...



Max said:


> Plus the customer base is nothing if not fickle. If they get even a whiff of uncoolness they can stampede _en masse_ to the Next Great Thing. There is no particular form of loyalty or allegiance on the net.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

In the end, we all go where our friends are. True some of the friends I have in FaceBook are simply "oh we knew each other before and we keep up with each other from time to time but we're not really friends, probably not even acquaintances each other, we just have the misfortune of knowing each other and the even greater misfortune of keeping in touch" haha. I do credit FaceBook with reuniting me and my sister with two old elementary school classmates of ours and we're just really good friends now. I like keeping in touch with people and FaceBook makes that easy but I prefer focussing my time with the few really good friends I have.


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

HowEver said:


> .
> <==== There might be _some _loyalty and allegiance on the internet...


I was making a broad generalization with this really huge broom I have here and you go and ruin it all for me. _Waaaaaaaaaah._


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Max said:


> I was making a broad generalization with this really huge broom I have here and you go and ruin it all for me. _Waaaaaaaaaah._


Okay then, how's this for you? Thank god we don't have to stare at everyone's "faces" every time we log on to ehMac. Does that help?


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

['sniff']

Why yes, HowEver. It does. Oh, thank you, thank you!


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

*How not to use Facebook: with a PC.*

Facebook's "Secret Crush" malicious widget tricks users - Network World



Network World said:


> Facebook's "Secret Crush" malicious widget tricks users
> Facebook users faked into downloading adware, security firm says
> 
> By Ellen Messmer, Network World, 01/03/08
> ...


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## i<3myiBookg4 (Mar 17, 2006)

My friend said she clicked "ignore" to 40 application requests the other day--fun!


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

LOL - I just rejoined FB not fifteen minutes ago after several months away from it... and now I can't connect! The server can't be found. That and Craigslist are down for me... must be my ISP. Or perhaps it's a message...


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

i<3myiBookg4 said:


> My friend said she clicked "ignore" to 40 application requests the other day--fun!


Define "friend."


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Pensionbook - from straightfrommybrain.com

PensionBook!


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

An old friend whom I respect dearly who wanted to keep in touch kinda "forced" me into Facebook. I loathe it, but it IS handy and re-connecting with old pals.

The bit about the annoying crap you have to get through couldn't be truer. FB is really shooting themselves in the face with the lack of control over that crap.

As for their policies, they really should rename themselves "Hotel California" -- you can check out any time you like, but you can NEVER leave ...

<guitar solo!>


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## RISCHead (Jul 20, 2004)

I do use FB and believe firmly in the maxim of common sense and privacy - don't use apps and add friends you don't know - don't put any more info than you need to on FB - I don't upload pix or albums, but will connect with friends.

Talk about never leaving - 
At one point in my misguided past, I did sent up a myspace account that I never used and have been unable to remove...
Everytime I try to, it says it'll send me an email to confirm, I never get the email, but get 50 notifications from 'friends' who want to add me to their friends list! wtf is that!


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## eBoy (Jun 29, 2003)

I've "deleted" my profile a few times but keep going back to it. It's like heroin....only semi-acceptable. It's creepy but cozy at the same time....


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

News reports today suggest that Facebook now has *100 million* users.


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

I'm one of them. I just went to a memorial last weekend for a dear uncle, saw a bunch of cousins I'd not seen in many years, and suddenly I have many new friends. It can be both endearing and creepy, this FB thing. However, I'm still there, for what it's worth.


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## bgw (Jan 8, 2008)

Staying away... very far away.


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

I wrote my first post on this thread back in January, when I was a fairly new Facebook user. Eight months on, I thought I'd follow up a bit:

1. Facebook is, in many ways, creepy.
2. Facebook can also be INCREDIBLY useful.
3. Facebook can annoy you with the constant offers to install "apps" on your page. I've already told my friends, I'm not installing any more apps. I have two, that's enough, no more thanks.
4. All that said, FB really excels at allowing you to keep track of people you DO like, but don't need to be "chatting with every other day" kind of close. I have many friends in the Doctor Who community (not just fellow fans, I'm talking writers mostly), folks I know from my high school days, and a large extended family via my wife and her relations. I like all of these people, and want to know what's up with them, but I don't want that activity to ever become "a chore" or "a job" (as in it's taking up a lot of time). FB, for me, strikes the right balance (and it's one of the reasons social networking is so popular) by allowing YOU to control how involved or not involved you want to be.

Overall, FB despite its flaws is worth it. However, I do keep this tool handy:
How to permanently delete your facebook account. | Facebook


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## kps (May 4, 2003)

I deactivated my acct. about 5 month ago for some of the same reasons listed by chas_m. It got to be way too annoying and that whole 6 degrees of separation thing started to get a little creepy.


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## gmark2000 (Jun 4, 2003)




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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

I agree with Chas... an alternately useful and hideous site. Ominous and pleasant. Inane and efficient.

I don't use any apps and keep the privacy settings high. Well, I did try Superwall but I got rid of it. Most of the 3rd party apps do nothing for me anyway. Although I did have a young relative pester me to add some kind of family tree app. I chose to ignore his request. It's not that I hate family, it's that every 3rd party app maker you so innocently addd then becomes privy to all your data. And that's creepola. Facebook says they'll respect your privacy, but what about the other guys?


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## adagio (Aug 23, 2002)

I guess I'm truly old. I have zero interest in FB. I don't care to meet up with old high school buddies or friends from the past. I figure if they were good enough friends in the first place we'd STILL be friends. 

I've met plenty of folks from the internet via forums. I met my best friend there and many other good people as well. Friendships have come about over a period time in which we interacted as a group of Mac users. If I want to talk with a friend I call them on iChatAV. I detest text chatting. I suppose the problem is I prefer human interaction. At least when I video chat I can hear the inflections in their voice and watch facial expressions. 

I'll leave FB for the younger crowd.


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## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

Max said:


> I agree with Chas... an alternately useful and hideous site. Ominous and pleasant. Inane and efficient.


Not to mention violates about every internet safety idea there ever was... voluntarily give away personal information like you wouldn't believe. FB is a stalker's playground. Be afraid! very afraid....


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## gmark2000 (Jun 4, 2003)

A bit if hysteria? You can set privacy settings such that no one can see your information unless they are your friends.

Having just my name out there is no different than being listed on Canada411.


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

rgray said:


> Not to mention violates about every internet safety idea there ever was... voluntarily give away personal information like you wouldn't believe. FB is a stalker's playground. Be afraid! very afraid....


I don't disagree. But in terms of the larger issues of data security, doing pretty much everything over the net is potentially problematic - especially banking and credit card transactions. Every second day you can read of detected bugs and exploits in browsers, not to mention banks and corporations accidentally selling laptops crammed full of customer dataset information. The cracks and loopholes are there if you care to look. Most of us prefer to hold our noses and pretend the stink is actually fragrant.

User beware, and not just with respect to FaceBook. I sometimes wonder how useful the 'tracks' we leave all over the net would be to our government, were it to suddenly turn fascist.

___________________________________________________________

Marg, FB isn't aimed at you... or me, for that matter. Most people in their 40s and up don't 'get' FB and see little purpose in it - and often see how ominous a proposal it can be. Were you to join FB, I wager you'd find relatively few people from your past, even if you did sincerely want to look them up - it's because many of our contemporaries weren't raised with personal computers around them... they simply didn't exist back in the day. 

Go to people in their early 30s and below and it's a very different story.

I guess I came back on because it's obviously part of a huge societal trend and its very existence hints at other nascent developments as the net continues to grow, mutate and mature.... I want to better understand the implications of social networking and its resultant impact on society and on its behavioural norms.


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## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

Max said:


> it's because many of our contemporaries weren't raised with personal computers around them... they simply didn't exist back in the day.


... which is why our contemporaries invented them... 

Just because I'm 62 doesn't mean that I don't recognise the utility of PCs. In fact as I experience the steady decline in my faculties and mobility, facility with personal computers becomes more and more important. Actually this has become what the British call "a nice little earner" as I specialise in training for those my age and older who are (slowly?) becoming aware of the freedom that a computer (Mac) can provide as one's abilities begin to slowly decline.


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

True enough... but they were visionaries. Most of us didn't know how useful we'd find them one day. I still know lots of 40-somethings who are very uncomfortable with personal computers - they mistrust and fear them. They'll use them at work if they have to but certainly not at home.... they just never got over their own FUD about them. Usually their own kids end up dragging them into the present, but not always.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

rgray said:


> ... which is why our contemporaries invented them...
> 
> Just because I'm 62 doesn't mean that I don't recognise the utility of PCs. In fact as I experience the steady decline in my faculties and mobility, facility with personal computers becomes more and more important. Actually this has become what the British call "a nice little earner" as I specialise in training for those my age and older who are (slowly?) becoming aware of the freedom that a computer (Mac) can provide as one's abilities begin to slowly decline.


Having a couple of years on you, I can relate.

There is freedom and then there is freedom.

I figure the freedom my motor home gives me for the next few years is something to treasure and hold onto until I can no longer do the physical part of the daily grind of travel in a big rig.

When that is gone, my Mac will become my only source to the outside world.

Arthritis of the spine and only 2/3 of a functioning heart can change your outlook pretty quickly.

There are many here who will one day have to face the reality of an unanticipated disability as they age.

I hope they can all deal with aging as we have and hold a new appreciation for there computer abilities.


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## Mississauga (Oct 27, 2001)

SINC,

My 85 year old Mac using mom would wholeheartedly agree! Her Mac is her new "lifeline" to the world.


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