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| Awwww! Remember This Guy? He was the "Facebook" of his day! Cutest ET in the universe or Soviet Spy? |
I never saw "ET" until recently, Before you say it, I know,I know, it's a wonderful movie and everyone on the planet knows it - precisely why I avoided seeing it for 20+ years. Too popular, it was "the McDonald's of movies" - Billions bought tickets. Pointless elitism is at least partly responsible for my stubborn refusal to ever use Facebook. But the truth is that I stay away from the social network because I don't really understand how to use it and I invariably create internet chaos whenever I do anything! And when I say anything I mean anything! Case in point: Last week, Facebook notified me of a family member's birthday so I ventured a rare trip to "FB land" and responded with a completely average (read: boring) "Happy Birthday" and hit "Send".
The PS said I had shared the birthday salutation with "everyone" and called me a rude name that brought my intellect into question! "Everyone" went everywhere. So I inadvertently wished a few people glad tidings, it might be almost a year away but it would be thoughtful, eventually, right? It's all good, it's well-intended, nothing to have a cow about.
I don't "give birth to bovines" anymore but when I heard Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerberg, testify before Congress my "Spidey Senses" tingled and a large log (Duraflame, maybe) was lit and added to my "Bonfire O' Stress". Tens of millions of FB users had their data shared/stolen/sold and that fact alone was reason to be wary, A Congressional hearing gives a measure of credibility to even the wackiest conspiracy theory. Do I get a baby shower for that cow or what? 'Information hacked? WTH?
And where precisely is this data? Which of us had our data stolen?
More stress I can't handle. And Mr. Zuckerberg? He told Congress that he would "look into it", whatever that means...
I was just saying,"Happy BD!", I wasn't trying to break anything...
FB fills a need for me to stay connected on family events or interesting adventures and shared sentiments about the news and the world, with a couple dozen friends from work and family across the country who otherwise I would be drifting into permanent isolation from. Likewise, I like to share photos of my local family especially 8-year-old daughter Abigail growing up and doing different things. Occasionally the side-board message service gives me a chance to say a few words privately, share a phone number and such, give brief medical guidance or support, but rarely in use for much of anything, the privacy thing has me concerned, too. What I see happening is that FB is using all those "likes" to inform marketers of what my preferences are, but no doubt that can be used to profile me for political agendas, too...Twitter and Instagram are not on my radar...
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