I'm sure all of you out there have heard of Facebook by now. I joined Facebook about a year and a half ago but didn't do anything with it until this past August. While attending my class reunion I found out that people there were way more into Facebook then blogging. So I dug out my login info for it and jumped on the bandwagon. I now have 257 friends. I may have more tomorrow because that's how it works. There have been some very cool things about Facebook. Like the fact that I found a childhood friend that I hadn't seen since I was 6. That's just crazy. I don't know if he remembered me, I kind of don't think so but he added me as a friend anyway. Which is a little weird now that I think of it. I have been able to get in touch with friends from my single days in Eugene which has been really neat and I have also been able to stay in better contact with my family. It seems that everyone is jumping on the Facebook bandwagon.
However, (you knew there was going to be a "however" didn't you?) it's just one more thing to distract me and give me less time with my family. And it also bugs me when people use facebook as the sole way to contact me. I still have an email address folks. I can't tell you how many times I get an email saying that I have a message from "so-and-so" and I can click "here" to see what that message is. Well, it's nice that Facebook will alert me by email that I have a message but it's just one more step I have to take to see the message. I then have to log in to my facebook account to see what the message is. I'm fine if it's a simple comment here and there but not when it's something important. And there are also those times when you don't see an important message on Facebook because it doesn't alert your email. I've had that happen too. And my thoughts have been why didn't someone call me or email me? And even more frustrating is that it seems that people want me to contact them through Facebook. I've been trying to follow the council of Sister Beck in last month's visiting teaching message and keep my priorities straight. I've been trying to spend less time with my distractions like "computer time" and more time reading with my children, checking homework, making dinner and talking with them about their day.
I'm curious how you all feel about Facebook? Are you on there? Do you like it? Do you feel like you manage your time well with it? And if so, how do you do it?
I just had to get my thoughts out there.
20 comments:
I am very new to the facebook world and like you came back into contact with a ton of people, I love to read little things here and there about friends and family. However, I get a little overwhelmed at how much is posted in one day and did I miss anything and what are these groups people are inviting me to join. To sum up I enjoy it but also get overwhelmed with it all sometimes.
I haven't gotten into facebook yet??
Great post. I agree on all counts. I love Facebook because I had been searching for ballet friends for years and hadn't been able to find them. With Facebook I've gotten in touch with three and found that one of my best ballet friends now lives in Oregon. HOpefully I'll be able to actually SEE her soon. Yipee! But I do have to limit my time on there. I give myself about 10 minutes between work files and then I close it up.
I have yet to jump on the Facebook band wagon...I heard it's addicting and I really don't think many of my old friends would be there and I keep in touch with the people who are important to me already:) I may have to check it out though, I heard it's pretty cool.
good post darilyn. i did get a facebook about a year ago or so. i too have reconnected with childhood friends as well as keep up on my nieces and nephew as well as cousins from the east..which is really nice.
balancing time is something i need to constantly work on and i find it now tougher than when i had 5 kids at home and was constantly doing things for all of them.
I have given our daughter a time limit on facebook per day and I try to do the same for myself. I do find that every now and then I will get an instant message while on facebook from one of my kids' friends or from an old friend and i stay on a bit longer to talk with them. I too need to work on it. Thanks for the reminder :)
I have enjoyed catching up with high school friends, and discovering friends in people I knew from high school, but didn't hang out with. I missed out back then, but I'm trying not to miss out now.
I haven't signed on to Facebook for this exact reason. I know I'll spend too much time on it and so I don't even go there. Good post as I have been thinking this week too about getting an account and had decided not to just the other day.
I had those same thoughts yesterday. Why send me a message on face book? Just e-mail me! I am glad that I have it, just not as my sole source of contact.
I figure if people really want to know whats up then my blog is enough - I don't want to devote more time into another thing I have to keep up with - I do a few different blogs for different things and that is enough for me. I think once in a while a note in the mailbox is really nice as well. So I often will do that to friends I want to say hi too- I really don't know if I want that many people checking up on me:)
I joined facebook a few months ago and while I have found a couple long lost friends, I don't understand people that go on and spend hours. I tend to spend too much time on the computer so this is what I have started doing:
When I am up in the morning, lunches have been made, back packs are ready and kids are eating, I check my email and family website. Then I turn off the computer until after lunch and I typically spend an hour or so reading blogs, checking status on facebook, etc; and then I put it away again until the kids are in bed when I check my email again. It really is helping with everything from cooking to housework to reading to kids to husband.
I love facebook! I have found long lost friends and it is great. There are days when I spend way to much time of it and then others were I am not on it at all. Just like blogging I make myself stop! Rob does give me a hard time here and there, but I have gotten better. It is fun to see friends have families. I am looking forward to my 20th reunion now. We didn't have a great showing at the 10yr, but more are promising to come now:)
I totally agree. I think the only people who should send messages on Facebook are people who don't have your email address and are someone who you don't want to give your email address out to.
I am really trying to not be on the computer while my kids are home and awake. Just keeping it to my me time. It is hard though.
I got on facebook last month, because my highschool class has a group. I haven't figured it out yet, and probably only go on once a week.
I'm with you too on all accounts Darilyn. More need not be said, as I was gone all weekend and need to get other stuff done now. lol
I love everyone's ideas, thoughts and suggestions on this. Thanks everyone.
I love how Facebook has helped me find and reconnect with people I haven't see since even elementary school. It is a strange feeling to be so "aware" of what so many people from my past are doing now. And I think it's super neat to find that time doesn't effect friendships, ya know?
That said, I have streamlined my "application" use immensely. It's nice to "poke" now an then, but I'd say 80% of the invites I get, I ignore, cause I know those things will lead to more things which will lead me away from what is important.
I can see where FB can get addictive, and I admit, I'll check it a few times a day, but to see how people ARE, not to see if I've recruited someone to my vampire army or whatever.
So, Hooray for Facebook in the friendship arena, and Boo for Facebook for all the other silly stuff.
PS - The email thing doesn't bug me.
Amen, sister. I like Facebook for connecting with friends, but I get irritated with all the invites to join groups and fill out surveys, etc... No offense to my friends, but I ignore most of the group or survey invites because I like to keep things simple and I also try to limit my time on the computer. Plus, I have a hard enough time keeping my family blog up to date!
I love it, but I don't spend hardly any time on it. It was fun at first to find lots of high school and college friends, but it sort of dies out after awhile. Also, I have it linked to an old email address, so I don't pay attention to all the updates.
It's been good for Berkeley to get on there and connect with friends and cousins his age. It's a bit of a distraction for him, but we think the "social" aspect of life is important at that age.
Hehe, you can read my post for facebook titled "facebook overload" here
Yes...my sister just convinced me to go on Facebook and I was hesitant as I never seem to have enough time. So, I have only been on Facebook for a couple of days now. It is fun to reconnect with friends and family (many have also said that they wanted to communicate with me on it), but we still have our blog and I am lucky to keep up with that! So, we'll see how it goes. :-)
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