catbird's world » technology

Might as well face it, I’m addicted to Facebook

catbird — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 02:46:32 +0000

It’s true. I’m addicted. I update my status at least once a day. I obsessively read friends’ status updates. In the evening, I often leave my computer tuned to “Live Feed” so I can keep up with people while I watch TV. And, it’s true, I have lost hours of my life looking at photos of people I don’t know at parties I wasn’t invited to.

I’m also out there pushing for the Facebook kingpin. “Just do it. Everyone is on there. You’re not cool unless you’re on Facebook.” Okay, maybe not that last one. Maybe.

Being addicted to Facebook isn’t just about the time you spend online. It’s also about how active you are. Some say that Facebook makes people a little too uninhibited and prone to oversharing. Well, okay, maybe that’s true. But I say if you don’t want to know what I’m doing every moment of the day, select “less about Cat” in your feed settings. If you don’t want to know 25 random things about me, don’t read my notes. If you don’t want me to comment on photos of your family, use friend lists. And if you aren’t truly interested in connecting with me, well, don’t friend me in the first place.

The problem, as I see it, isn’t that people overshare, it’s that people don’t know they are oversharing. I’ve read enough private conversations posted on public walls to know that people don’t know I can read their private conversations posted on their public walls. Just like that sloppy drunk at the office Christmas party who thinks everyone wants to see his Xeroxed butt, people on Facebook often forget that some things are best kept private.

If you do nothing else to manage your FB addiction, do this:
1. Use friend lists. Does your old co-worker care about your photos from high school? Probably not.

2. Set your application settings. Are you sure you really want all your friends to know how often you play Scramble? I didn’t think so.

3. Change your photo tag settings. Because, really, just because someone has an incriminating photo of you shouldn’t mean they can tell all your friends about it.

Most importantly, if it’s not in a private message, it means you don’t mind if anyone else reads it.

There is an upside to my addiction, though. As a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM? Some acronyms just weren’t meant to be), Facebook is like my happy hour hangout where I can commiserate with other moms, chat with friends, and yes, when I log on, everybody knows my name.

It hasn’t decreased my real-life socializing, since I wouldn’t otherwise be out with friends. It has, however, given me a low bandwidth way to keep in touch with old friends, continue conversations with current real-life friends, chat with family members I rarely get to see in person, and reconnect with friends that I truly wish I had never lost touch with in the first place. Rather than make me more isolated, it has actually made me more social.

As anyone who has ever celebrated their 21st birthday with a pitcher of red death knows (I won’t name any names), self-control is very, very important. But anyone who has ever gone to happy hour with friends knows a little socializing is good for the soul. I figure, as long as I remember to log off now and then, this is one addiction I’ll keep.

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Spamusement

catbird — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 11:51:48 +0000

I love Spamusement.
It’s very funny.

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razzberry in the Way Back Machine

catbird — Sat, 15 Jan 2005 19:14:42 +0000

Steve sent me this cool link to razzberry in the Way Back Machine. Wow it brought back a lot of memories! I still remember building and posting the very first razz site iteration. It doesn’t seem that long ago , but then again, sometimes it does….

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Where in the world is Yahoo RSS?

catbird — Wed, 19 Nov 2003 22:43:12 +0000

Although he would prefer me to install a news aggregator, Steve told me back in September about the launch of Yahoo! RSS feeds.

“Woo-hoo!” I thought and the first day I set it up was great. After the first day, though, I noticed that the entries never updated. Thinking maybe I screwed something up, I clicked “edit,” but that led me to a blank page. Well, at least I could still use it as a sort of backward, inconvenient bookmark list.

While early on the blogs block often wouldn’t show up, now it is completely MIA. What gives, Yahoo?

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F.C.C. Acts Against Pirating of TV Broadcasts

catbird — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 18:00:32 +0000

Yesterday, the FCC approved rules that would insert a digital marker into the data stream being transmitted. The goal is to block people from sharing movies and TV shows recorded from their televisions. Officials say that the technology will allow people to record for their personal use, just not share.

Consumer groups are concerned:

“More than 40 million DVD players in consumers’ homes today will not be able to play content they record on new ‘flagged’ devices, making them at least partially obsolete,” said Chris Murray, legislative counsel at Consumers Union. “Technology always marches on, but that’s normally because new devices offer consumers better features and more flexibility to woo buyers in the marketplace, not because government fiat has rendered a particular technology obsolete. This time, the F.C.C.’s ‘upgrade’ will be a downgrade for consumers.”

The rules may also make it impossible to share content that is in the public domain. As icing on the cake, the rules could allow technology to track the viewing habits of consumers.

Hopefully the government, businesses, and technology innovators will figure out effective ways to handle new technology and copyright issues soon. This certainly doesn’t seem like the answer.

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Liveblogging childbirth via hospital WiFi

catbird — Tue, 04 Nov 2003 21:40:39 +0000

… Otherwise known as “Something that won’t be happening at the Hatchlet birth.”

[From boingboing.net] Matt sez, “the very cool presence of wi-fi here at the hospital means that I can blog my second daughter’s birth as it happens. Finally my two favorite things (my daughters and my laptop) come together!”

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“Hello” P2P photo sharing

catbird — Fri, 24 Oct 2003 00:03:26 +0000

Just when non-linear photo sharing had saved you from looking at your friend’s six wedding albums while she waits for you to comment on how stunning she looks in each one, Picasa gives us “Hello.” From the press blurb (and lifted from boingboing):

‘Hello’ opens an entirely new way of sharing photos with friends and family through it’s’ private Peer-to-Peer network. Through this live experience, users connected via the internet are able to instantaneously share photos, and provide each other with immediate feedback using ‘Hello’s’ chat function. ‘Hello’ simulates the experience of sitting down on the couch with a friend and showing them your photo album.

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College Moms Gone Wild?

catbird — Tue, 02 Sep 2003 23:39:12 +0000

I work for a magazine that offers free subscriptions. The mag is targeted to parents of college and college-bound students.

A recent subscriber has the email address SoftSwtMoistKiss at isp.com – can you imagine emailing your mom at that email address?

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Googleholes

catbird — Thu, 17 Jul 2003 21:57:32 +0000

Steven Johnson over at Slate wrote an article about Google and so-called “Googleholes” in the system.

Unfortunately, his Googleholes 1 and 2 sound more like user error than “systemic problems” to me.

If you are looking for information on growing tulips, why would you search for “flowers” rather than “growing tulips“?

And if you are looking for information about regular old-fashioned apples and not apple computers or Fiona Apple, why wouldn’t you search for “old-fashioned apples,” “red delicious apples,” or even “McIntosh apples“?

Come now, Steven, are we really to believe that your inability to develop appropriate search phrases is a flaw in Google?

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Wired: A Romance

catbird — Wed, 25 Jun 2003 21:58:27 +0000

“Computers were making every existing authority obsolete. Information would be free, censorship impossible. Consumers would buy products directly from suppliers, cutting out the middlemen and threatening every traditional business.” Gary Wolfe’s new book recounts the making of Wired. No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin. No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.