Blogage

Facebook Forum - Guest Blogger Paul Arndt

Posted by Ted Klumb on June 3, 2010

Entertainment

Many of you are on or use Facebook. It is an interesting site with unknown ramifications. Paul Arndt, shared his thoughts wil me and gave me permission to post them. I would like to weigh in on Facebook in the future too. Meanwhile here is Paul's opinion.

May 17, 2010

Subject: Facebook, good thing or bad thing.

I never thought that I’d be a member of Facebook, until this past year, when the people in charge of our upcoming high school reunion suggested that by joining, it would make it a lot easier for them to get the needed information out to us. With people scattered across the globe, and with different schedules and time zones, I agree that Facebook has been a very useful tool for this purpose. 

Through this internet tool, I have been in touch with people that I haven’t even thought about for the past thirty years. I’ve experienced many pleasant surprises in the past several months, and possibly realized that this planet that we live on is truly getting smaller each day. 

For those of you that have a Facebook account, you are aware of the friend list. I have noticed that there are some people that have this goal, or need, to have the largest friend list. I’m talking about being to the point of almost appearing desperate. This is regardless if they like you, or not. Regardless if they have anything in common with you or not, there are these people that will do anything to have not only your name on their friend list, but they will do anything to hijack your entire friend list in order to add it to their list. Mind you that this does not describe all people with a Facebook account; however it does cover many. 

Then we have what is referred to as the wall. This is a spot on your account where many people post random things for others to view. Again, this can be very useful for flock shoot type messaging; but many have this addiction or need to post something every hour. What really gets me are the individuals that are doing such activities from the work place. Senseless random postings such as the one that I saw the other day that went something like, “Someone just put another pile of forms on my desk to be filed…Arggggg!” Same person about an hour later, “Who’s in charge of toilet paper in this office anyway… Argggg!” What’s with the Argggg? Does this person want to be a pirate? 

Then we have these games hosted by Facebook. I will mention three of these games in which I have never played, but am constantly bothered by others to not only play but to help them win. We have Farmville, Fishville, and Mafia Wars. People are constantly asking me for fertilizer to help their crops grow, fish food for the fish, and bullets and machineguns for Mafia wars. I am aware of people in their mid to late 40’s that will stay up all night playing these games obsessed like Grandma on a slot machine. I have been in places of business where I have noticed people using Facebook while on the company clock. This problem has apparently escalated to the point where many companies have started to block Facebook from their internal network. Smaller companies without onboard IT people, have to spend the money to block it, or attempt to police their employees, which creates a situation for all because of a few. 

So far, the things that I have mentioned strictly apply to the adults that I have witnessed, and not the children and teens with FB accounts. I have talked with parents, teachers, and school staff about FB. Many kids, not all, are making the mistake of posting things on their wall with no viewer restrictions. It’s there for the world to see; obviously the main concern with this would be safety from predators. 

However, with some of the things being posted, people also need to be concerned about identity theft. Predators look for full names, birth dates, and family member names, along with statements detailing family outings such as vacations or other events that would leave a house vacant for a long enough time to rob, vandalize, or who knows what. Kids are also famous for posting what I refer to as instant emotion. This would be to post hateful or damaging remarks, be it true or not, about someone else for others to see. Some of these cases have been drug into the courtroom for the damages caused to an individual. And just as damaging is the person’s reputation that is doing the posting due to things such as bad and inappropriate language, hateful and damaging statements, and deliberate lies created to injure others. 

So, in winding this up. Is Facebook a good thing, or bad thing? I guess in my mind, with moderation, it can be a very useful tool to stay in touch with friends and family, along with the ability to share photos, thoughts, and feelings. On the other side of the coin, I feel that like anything else, without self control, it has the potential to not only damage ones self, but it can also cost you your reputation and or job if not careful.       

Paul Arndt