Facebook

I have had a Facebook account for a few years now despite resisting for quite some time.  I am a high school teacher and was afraid to put too much of myself out there for my students to see.  I also did not want to see what they are posting - a kind of ignorance is bliss scenario.  However, with more and more friends and family moving away from Montreal, the allure of Facebook as a way of keeping in touch convinced me to bite the bullet and sign up.

I keep my privacy settings high.  I don't "friend" any students or past students.  I only post pictures I would have on display in my home or in my office and try to get people to remove any pictures of me I wouldn't want displayed in my home or office as well.  With these "policies" I am quite pleased with my experience on Facebook.  I have successfully kept up with some friends that I am sure would have drifted out of my life had it not been for them popping up in my News Feed and have kept them up to date with important milestones in my life.  My activity on Facebook consists of looking at pictures of my closest friends and playing Scrabble with a few of my contacts as well.  I think I have updated my status only a handful of times but I do post pictures semi-regularly.  I am open to people seeing what is going on in my life, but I don't feel that it is necessary for every aspect of my day-to-day life to be documented on Facebook.  The people who really care what I am doing on a daily basis know that stuff because I speak to them regularly.

I realize that other people have other uses for Facebook and different views about how much of their lives to share, but I am at a loss for why people post some things.  For example, I was reading through my News Feed the other day and was noticing how many people publicize when they are going to be away from their homes.  You really have to be trusting to inform everyone that your house is going to be empty.  Maybe I am paranoid, but that is an invitation to be robbed if you ask me.  I am also amazed at how detailed some people's status updates are.  There is no detailed spared in some people's posts.  And finally, I am also amazed at the comments some people write in response to people's pictures and status updates.  Some people are really not afraid to give their opinion on what others are doing with their lives.  This week I plan to pay particular attention to this.  I normally avoid all Facebook drama and stop reading when a comment stream gets heated, however I will follow  this week to see what develops (assuming anything dramatic occurs).  I will not get involved but I will observe what happens.