I just wanted to say that if you want to delete yourself from facebook, the system will not delete you (just deactivate you), but you can do something to prevent that, just as I did – delete all of your data & pictures manually, and THEN deactivate yourself. You can even change your name into something irrelevant. Well, I think that’s the most we can do from our side…

Cheers

*sigh*

Not only are we willing to follow any lead we deem fashionable, but we are willing to give personal information to the most unlikely places.

How quickly we forgot the internet started as a military project.

Sites like Facebook, MySpace, etc. are strictly off limits in our house. I “lurked” around yours for a long time before I commented. (Worth the risk though.)

Privacy is a thing of the past. I was on Google Maps and I could zoom in on my Mom’s house so close I knew who was home at the time the picture was taken by the cars that were there. My brother was out.

Whoa, Mr. Thiel wants to destroy “nature” and replace it with a virtual world? Here’s a lad who logged a few too many hours on video games. He made it through Stanford so he must have something going on between his ears. How many devastating hurricanes, tornados, tidal waves, ice storms, Nor’easters, brush and forest fires, volcano eruptions, floods (need I continue?) will it take for him to realize his is a pipe dream? I have to laugh. We get cocky and nature smacks us right down and we still don’t get it. You and I both know we will never control nature. 2008 and we can’t even predict nature with any real accuracy, let’s be honest. My dog is more accurate at predicting severe thunder storms than the National Weather Service.

We do fancy ourselves so self-important and forget we are supposed to be stewards. Without nature, we got us a bare rock. At least it will absorb radiant energy and keep us warm at night.

I have to agree with Mr. Hodgkinson; I’ll take face-to-face conversation over—what did he call them—ungrammatical messages (these communications notwithstanding; wait, we’re grammatical!). Conversation is a dying art. All I’m saying is that in psychology the inability to recognize and decode facial expressions and body postures is considered pathological. It’s also something we learn from practice. Hummm. Talk face to face with the kids in your life, please. A lot. If you can’t get them to turn off the TV, then discuss what’s on the screen! Anything.

Oh, and I hate DVD players in the car! That’s the one place the family is a captive audience and you can TALK.

I need to go to my “happy place,” breathe, and calm down.

Love to you and your great wordy posts.
Karen

Even as “social networking” I found Facebook entirely inadequate. Content was minimal and very difficult to find. The forums were of very low quality and the discourse there was barely above what you might find on LOLcats. Even after its sale to a Russian company, I much prefer LiveJournal as a way to socialize online. People actually write about their lives and their experiences there, at least among the folks whose journals I subscribe to.

Have you heard any similar issues about MySpace? I’m a member there, but really only because that’s where my brother keeps his own blog. He lives in Italy, so it’s that, email, and the occasional IM session as our only contact until I can get over there with mom for a visit in September. We’ve been much more in contact this year than since I left home in 1979. It’s an interesting process, getting to know him again. I’m very much looking forward to spending time seeing him in person and getting to know Italy as he does.

I always appreciate your words, Pete. Thank you for being such a shining presence in my online life.