Seven Quick Takes Friday is hosted here.
1. In the fall of 2007 Maggie spent a semester in Austria. She took LOTS of pictures with her new digital camera, and posted them all on Facebook. The problem was, that meant her siblings could see them, but I had to log into one of their accounts to get a look. So she set up a Facebook account for me. This was two years ago, and Facebook was still an occupation of the college-aged set. Maggie joked that she was going to start a group for "Moms on Facebook". Now my mother-in-law is on, to keep track of her kids and grandkids. She'll be 75 on Monday!
2. Because Maggie set up my account (my kids don't trust me to do tech-type stuff myself, because I'm slower at it than they are) she got to choose my password. I have a password mnemonic system that works for me -- it involves characters in a novel Roger wrote that's never been published -- but she choose instead a rather unusual food that no one in the family in the family likes but me. When I forget what that password IS (as opposed to forgetting that Facebook doesn't fit my system) I'll know it's time to head in for a Folstein test.
3. Facebook is wonderful! In the last few months I've reconnected with a friend I worked with at summer camp almost 40 years ago, some people I knew in another state 30 years ago, and some almost-local folks who attended the same church I did 20 years ago.
4. Facebook is terrible! One of my sisters-in-law had to stop using it entirely because she was being stalked by a weirdo from work. And I could very easily spend more time doing silly quizzes and games than leading a productive life could justify.
5. Facebook is here to stay. I know that Tommy is on his plane home from camp because he posted his status as "boarding" using the airport's free WiFi. Short of putting GPS trackers on them and monitoring constantly, I can't think of a more effective way of keeping track of grown and mostly-grown kids.
6. Facebook can be annoying. I'm unable to join the network for the college I graduated from because I don't have a college email address. Hello! When I graduated (with a minor in computers), it was a big deal that two terminals on our campus were linked to a mainframe on a campus 100 miles away. They don't give out email addresses retroactively. But I'm still part of the "SPC*" community!
7. All in all, I love being on Facebook. Just like any other tool, it can be abused or misused, but so far the benefits seem to strongly outweigh the risks. And if you read this blog regularly and are not already Facebook friends with me, drop me a email and we'll discuss it!
*Small Private College
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