It's out of control ...

What's wrong with making friends the "old fashioned way" -- face to face?

Why in the world take a chance with potential predators? That goes for parents too. Why allow your young and tender ones to engage in it? Why do it yourself?

It has "red flag" written all over it - for crying out loud!

Your thoughts ...

I suppose you could look upon these forums as a sort of grown up myspace/facebook, only with a somewhat literary bent.

Every fat, lonely, depressing, strange loser in the country can now have 'friends'.

I met my wife online 15 years ago. Didn't hear her voice or see her face for two years.

There are millions of people who have gotten together and have fruitful, happy relationships. The Internet is just another way to meet people.

You can meet a person face-to-face, marry them, sleep in the same bed with them for decades and still not know what you've gotten yourself into. It happens every single day.

It all comes down to honesty.

quote:

Originally posted by SurfaceDog:
Every fat, lonely, depressing, strange loser in the country can now have 'friends'.

Hey, if online "friends" will keep some of those fat, lonely, depressing, strange losers from snapping and doing something destructive to themselves and/or the people around em, I'm all for it.

I don't care about Facebook/MySpace one way or the other. I just wish I'd invested in one or both of em when they were just getting started.

I use both.

Facebook initially started as a social network STRICTLY for college students.

You couldn't use facebook unless you had a ".edu" email account belonging to select universities.

That's how I first got into it. But the whole thing just grew into a monster and eventually expanded to compete with other social networking sites such as MySpace...it grew to allow high school students, and then pretty much anyone can have a Facebook account now.

As for MySpace, I avoided it initially but most of my college friends were using it that couldn't use Facebook at the time, since they graduated before Facebook allowed non .edu users access.

If both networks are used the way it's intended...keeping in touch with friends, sharing blogs, photos, e.t.c, then it's no problem. The potential for predators is there however.

quote:

Originally posted by SurfaceDog:
Every fat, lonely, depressing, strange loser in the country can now have 'friends'.

YOU talkin to ME?

quote:

Originally posted by Bsnizzle:
I use both.

Facebook initially started as a social network STRICTLY for college students.

You couldn't use facebook unless you had a ".edu" email account belonging to select universities.

That's how I first got into it. But the whole thing just grew into a monster and eventually expanded to compete with other social networking sites such as MySpace...it grew to allow high school students, and then pretty much anyone can have a Facebook account now.

As for MySpace, I avoided it initially but most of my college friends were using it that couldn't use Facebook at the time, since they graduated before Facebook allowed non .edu users access.

If both networks are used the way it's intended...keeping in touch with friends, sharing blogs, photos, e.t.c, then it's no problem. The potential for predators is there however.

yea my college we the computer students all got a facebook account... but i never used it unless it was for school.... i have a myspace account great for keeping in touch with my friends scattered across the nation...

I'm on both too... Although I tend to prefer the uniformity of Facebook over the HTML-diarrhea of Myspace these days. People tend to put entirely too much crap on their page - Making them e-quivalents to people who plaster their vehicles in 40,000 bumper stickers and drive 50 in the fast lane with their left blinker on.

But... It's great for staying in touch with friends and family.

also what i do is not accept anyone i do not already know....

quote:

Originally posted by cheapthrills:

quote:

Originally posted by SurfaceDog:
Every fat, lonely, depressing, strange loser in the country can now have 'friends'.

YOU talkin to ME?

No, I was talking to myself...

Ironically, just last week a neighbor friend told me she saw another neighbor friend(by accident) saying some things and posing in ways a married woman shouldn't . She found it by looking for someone else. It's fuuny that ppl think the net is anon.

quote:

Originally posted by joshuacarnes:
I'm on both too... Although I tend to prefer the uniformity of Facebook over the HTML-diarrhea of Myspace these days. People tend to put entirely too much crap on their page - Making them e-quivalents to people who plaster their vehicles in 40,000 bumper stickers and drive 50 in the fast lane with their left blinker on.

But... It's great for staying in touch with friends and family.

To each his own I guess. I have some friends in their early 20's who keep hounding me to get one. It's reminiscent of being in HS and being peer pressured to drink or smoke,LOL! As 30something yr old, I see it mainly as a teenie bopper/20something "thang". I keep in touch with my friends just fine. I'm really not trying to find anybody(old friends)and really don't care if I'm ''found'' by anyone.

quote:

Originally posted by boughtwaprice:
To each his own I guess. I have some friends in their early 20's who keep hounding me to get one. It's reminiscent of being in HS and being peer pressured to drink or smoke,LOL! As 30something yr old, I see it mainly as a teenie bopper/20something "thang". I keep in touch with my friends just fine. I'm really not trying to find anybody(old friends)and really don't care if I'm ''found'' by anyone.

I think it's pretty cool to get reacquainted with someone you haven't seen in 9 or 10 years. It's like a 'time capsule' of sorts, to me anyway. But eh, like you said - To each their own.

Brad Paisely - So Much Cooler Online



I work down at The Pizza Pit
And I drive an old Hyundai
I still live with my mom and dad
I'm five foot three and overweight
I'm a sci: fi fanatic, mild asthmatic
Never been to second base
But there's a whole 'nother me
That you need to see
Go check out Myspace.

'Cause online I'm out in Hollywood
I'm six foot five and I look damn good
I drive a Maserati, I'm a black belt in karate
And I love a good glass of wine
It turns girls on that I'm mysterious
I tell 'em I don't want nothing serious
'Cause even on a slow day I can have a three-way chat
With two women at one time.

I'm so much cooler online
I'm so much cooler online.

I get home I kiss my mom
And she fixes me a snack
I head down to my basement bedroom
And fire up my Mac
In real life the only time
I've ever even been to L.A.
Was when I got the chance with the marching band
To play tuba in the Rose Parade.

But online I live in Malibu
I pose for Calvin Klein
I've been in GQ
I'm single and I'm rich
And I got a set of six-pack abs that would blow your mind
It turns girls on that I'm mysterious
I tell 'em I don't want nothing serious
'Cause even on a slow day I can have a three-way chat
With two women at one time.

I'm so much cooler online
Yeah, I'm cooler online.

When you've got my kind of stats
It's hard to get a date
Let alone a real girlfriend
But I grow another foot and lose a bunch of weight
Every time I log in.

Online I'm out in Hollywood
I'm six foot five and I look damn good
Even on a slow day I can have a three-way chat
With two women at one time.

I'm so much cooler online
Yeah, I'm cooler online
I'm so much cooler online
Yeah, I'm cooler online.

After a few years as a member of Mil.Com I drove from NC to Dayton OH for the first Mil.Com reunion. I met some very good people and had a good time. People like me that are educated, successful and mature can make the Internet a decent place. Its the other 90% of s*** out there that makes it dangerous.

Each advance in technology makes the world a little smaller. The Internet has made the world the smallest it has ever been. These days, we are more likely to talk to someone 3000 miles away than our next door neighbor. Not necessarily "wrong", but has anyone seen Wall-E yet?

quote:

Originally posted by SurfaceDog:
Every fat, lonely, depressing, strange loser in the country can now have 'friends'.

You lucked out, then?

Young people today are far more technologically adept than we are. Theirs is a digital world far removed from what we knew. For instance, today's youth have never known a world without computers, game consoles, and the Internet. Whether or not they had access to them at home, school, or at a friend's house, they are familiar with this technology at a level that most of their parents are not. And, they are very good at using one or more of them. They are, "plugged in," and we are not.

For example, a typical high school or middle school student can compose a homework essay or project report on the computer, while playing a high difficultly level game, and downloading and listening to strange music on their iPod, and Instant Messaging a friend...all simultaneously...and accomplishing this very effectively with little or no effort on their part. They have become masters of multi-tasking in a big way.

But, we ask, are they doing their homework correctly and learning? Are they plagiarizing the essay or report? What kind of music are they listening to on their iPod? Are they gossiping with a friend or are they flirting with someone 10 years older than they are? And, most importantly, because we cannot do this and do not understand how they can, do we demand that they stop or do we ask them to show us how they do it?

Well, we cannot make them stop. We may fool ourselves into thinking that we have that kind of control, but think about when you were young...were your parents really successful in making you stop your socializing, hanging out with the people you wanted to see and be seen with, doing what you want to do with them? Mine weren't. I wasn't disrespectful, I just hid it from them when I realized that they disapproved. If you think that your kids are not doing the same thing, then you are very naive. What we have to do is to learn how their world works in order to have some control over this important part of their social life.

What are kids doing on FaceBook, YouTube and My-Space? They are socializing. They are hanging out and seeing and being seen just like we did, just like our parents did, and just like young people do. Are they flirting with older people? Yes, just like we did. Just like we did, they are dressing or undressing to flirt and flaunt their emerging sexuality and maturity. Only instead of hanging out at the local soda shop, hamburger joint, bowling alley, skating rink, or where ever you hung out as a kid, they hang out on YouTube, My-Space, FaceBook, and in theirs and or their friends' rooms, post digital images or videos of themselves dressed or undressed, flirt and flaunt their emerging sexuality, and act just exactly like we did...only they do not do it in person like we did. They do it in ways that most of us do not understand and because we do not understand, we are quick to question and possibly condemn it...and demand to know who they are flirting with and meeting just like our parents did when we spent every summer night hanging out with out friends, flirting and flaunting, and in some cases, getting into trouble.

This impersonal way of meeting and communicating is a double edged sword. While they certainly are in danger of flirting with some pervert or predator, unlike our generation who was out there and exposed, they are generally safely insulated by their digital environment. And, while that same digital environment gives them access and exposure to many more perverts and predators than we were exposed to when we drove around and hung out on Friday and Saturday nights, they are, for the most part, safely tucked away.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: skinman13,

Skinman13;
I enjoyed reading your post. You are absolutely correct IMO. If I may, I would just like to add that parents today are treading water to make ends meet. They don't have the time now a days to spend with their children. I know that is not a very good excuse but it is one that many use. True or not.

quote:

Originally posted by SurfaceDog:

quote:

Originally posted by cheapthrills:

quote:

Originally posted by SurfaceDog:
Every fat, lonely, depressing, strange loser in the country can now have 'friends'.

YOU talkin to ME?

No, I was talking to myself...

Must be a lot of that goin round. LOL