

What a 16 year old thinks about how Facebook is changing our society. - mmoorejones
http://mmoorejones.com/2010/10/25/what-a-16-year-old-thinks-about-how-facebook-is-changing-our-society/

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TomOfTTB
He (you) is (are) only 16 so I give him (you) some leeway here but this makes
the same mistake a lot of technology pundits do in assuming users will have to
adapt to technology rather than technology adapting to users.

The idea that you simply won't be able to maintain multiple social circles in
5 years is patently absurd. Mother's should not have to hear about their son's
sex lives and Son's don't want them to. The fact that Facebook currently makes
that happen is a flaw in the technology not a flaw in society.

~~~
thwarted
Maintaining Facebook's privacy settings seems like a lot of work just so your
Mom can maintain a view that you're asexual.

~~~
evanrmurphy
There's a _huge_ difference between knowing that something is true and wanting
to be reminded about it constantly in graphic detail.

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VladRussian
>I urge everyone to adapt to these social changes and not try to fight them.
Resisting the inevitable is counterproductive. Adapt to them completely, and
conduct yourself in a manner that [...]

Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and
technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service
us. Resistance is futile.

~~~
sliverstorm
Do I get cool bionic implants if I accept the new wave?

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juiceandjuice
I've always been a weirdly private person. It mostly stems from my family,
mostly because my mom has a motormouth, her parents who were the equivalent of
the high school bully that could expose your every flaw, and I also learned
some hard lessons about kids when I moved around a bit in middle/high school,
developing an (un)healthy level of paranoia and social anxiety.

I have best friends/groups that I've managed to keep completely separate for
more than five years. Maybe because of this, even on facebook I've managed to
keep up the segregation after nearly 6 years through self-censorship and
facebook features like friend lists. I think Facebook was also the first site
I used (not counting ones requiring a verified identity) where I actually used
my full real name to sign up (although I created several fake accounts first
to test the waters)

My point is, if it's really, really important to a person to keep their lives
separate, it is possible. It's not easy, but it's possible. Whether or not
it's healthy and worth the time that it takes are the questions you have to
ask.

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DjDarkman
There are some valid points but it exasperates that there is no way out. There
is: simply not use Facebook, or if you use it, use it carefully.

There is a reason I do not link my Facebook account from my professional
website and/or Linked-in account. And there is a reason I simply not use
Facebook to share my private life with anybody.

The thing is that I have a private life which I don't want the whole internet
to know about, sure I may want to share something with my real friends but I'm
so old fashion that I prefer talking about it in a pub...

In the end I think people will learn not to be careless.

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fleitz
Incorrect, Facebook or the company that kills Facebook will figure out how to
convey multiple identities from a single account.

Facebook will soon enable us to better manage multiple identities in the same
way that Outlook's delay send feature helps us with working all hours of the
night.

Eventually photos from your xmas party will only be viewable by your coworkers
and photos from burning man will only be viewable by burners.

~~~
haribilalic
Facebook already allows you to group friends together and assign permissions
based on those groups. I can post a status update _right now_ that everyone
except my family can see or a status update only my high school friends can
see.

~~~
fleitz
Yep, it is a bit of a PITA to setup but once done is well worth it in avoiding
social faux pas.

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zephjc
Facebook already has groups. So make your friends group, your family group,
your coworkers group, and your BDSM group, and when you post anything, make
sure you mark which group(s) to post it to. Facebook actually makes it pretty
easy to do so. The author mentions groups but basically claims laziness as an
excuse.

And of course, if you don't want anyone knowing what you're thinking or doing,
DON'T POST IT.

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sibsibsib
It's not that hard to keep social identities separate. Don't add your Great
Aunt Mildred as a friend on Facebook. If you really must, it's not like it's
difficult to make separate accounts (annoying maybe, but not difficult).

Or, don't use Facebook at all.

~~~
natrius
I consider the fact that we want our Great Aunt Mildreds to have a false idea
of who we really are to be a flaw in our culture.

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davidk0101
I don't get this facebook thing just like I didn't get AOL and myspace before
it.

