Beware of Facebook

BEWARE OF FACEBOOK - my suggestion is to use face to face if at all possible.

Yes face to face is more risky but in fact far more rewarding.

Facebook are trying very deliberately (and successfully) to get us 'hooked' - because it leads them to be able to make more money: the more it is used , the bigger the bulge in their pockets.

My reasons:

1. It is designed to be addictive
2. It can easily misrepresent our attempts to communicate with each other and therefore be very damaging.
3. It gives us a false sense of achievement of getting on with others when in fact the contact is far less substantial than it would have been face to face.

1. Several people that I respect are moving away from Facebook because they have found that they have more productive things and ways of communicating with their particular world .

2. I have just had a message that someone close to me followed a link on my page - she did nothing of the kind. Also when having an argument with someone else I got messages that suggested the person was being supported in her argument by a third person with messages like "A ( who is friends with B) thinks you're very immature": B in fact had nothing to do with the statement.

3. I'm finding an increasing number of people who are going back to basic of face to face meetings and chat. If this is not happening then they use the phone. Email and Facebook easily lead to misunderstandings and can ruin relationships in their formative stages. As an example of positive 'face to face', I have just this minute enjoyed such an experience - I can hear Clare and children going past my door so I quickly open the findow and say "Hi and mimic the children" as they walk past the house on the way to school. I regularly go up to people's houses when I have something to say rather than use any other technical means (phone) of contact them. It takes more time but is far more enjoyable in the long term.

On the negative side I had a painful interaction with someone by email which had to be sorted out by a very friendly face to face contact and we resolved to use the phone where at all possible in future

To back this up I enjoy a lot of very enjoyable interactions with people - even strangers - where all that happens is that we exchange a look - or a wink of a smile. We have had lifetime of developing these valuable skills. Lets use them as much as possible.


Yesterday I travelled by train to Salford and back.

In the course of the trip I had many face to face chats with other people - some I knew but most were initially complete strangers.


Counting them all up:

I talked to seven people for about two minutes each;   only one I knew before.
Three for between five and ten minutes.
Three for twenty to 30 minutes.


What a lovely day, rich with human contacts and I learnt a lot about others and in the case of one I took on board a suggestion that I live my life differently.


Compare that with a day with facebook.

Yes my face to face strategy is far riskier however by actually doing it, one gains confidence and learns to do it well.


For me:
Facebook is no substitute to face to face contact.