Here’s where I stand with Facebook. A couple of years ago I decided to start my own Facebook page. The real reason, (I admit it), was to surprise and impress my kids. I wrote up a profile, uploaded a photo … and didn’t say a word; I just sat back and waited. It wasn’t long before one of them wrote on my wall: “Whoa, Mom! You’re on Facebook??!!!!” For me, it was a ‘Mission Accomplished’ Moment, one worthy of being savored, as such moments come so rarely these days. Once I impressed them with my uncharacteristic technological savvy, however, all four kids signed up wanting to be my friend. Funny thing was … I thought we already were! After that momentary ‘high’, which I’d now have to get up pretty early in the morning to top, I didn’t have much more to do with Facebook one way or the other. ‘My’ page was still out there somewhere on the internet, but I rarely checked it. Except occasionally. Like when one of the kids would mention that they’d ‘sent me a message’. The spoken word, however, still works best with me. When I got on there recently I saw that there were 94 people I know just waiting to be my “friends”. Oh my … I wonder how many friendships break up over such neglect? And the most pathetic thing of all, was that during the long wait to be acknowledged by me, one of them had actually passed away. Not good. Really not good.
There is a legitimate reason, however, why my presence on Facebook is both rare and fleeting. In a word, it is: FEAR. I did purchase Facebook for Dummies, but I know firsthand some really embarrassing, unintentional faux pas that have happened to my fellow ‘over the hill’ crowd of friends who have dabbled dangerously in the Facebook World. One is a dear sweet Christian woman I know and love, who wouldn’t hurt a fly. One day she accidentally clicked on something that sent a “swift kick in the ‘groin’” (well, not exactly that, but if you use your imagination you’ll get the general idea). It went out to her complete distribution list, including her entire church congregation and her pastor. She was beyond mortified, especially when a normally nice gentleman at her church sarcastically said “Gee, thanks!” to her the following Sunday. She had no idea what he was talking about. Then there was the friend of a friend, the CEO of a really huge business I know of, who had been to the “Apple” store in Boston, just killing time while his wife and daughter went clothes shopping. He went in to check out the new laptops, and while there he decided to check his Facebook page. When his family finally came in to retrieve him a little while later and take him out for lunch, he left, forgetting to log out of his account on the store’s computer. This of course was an open invitation for some other patron with a quirky sense of humor to have a field day at his expense. He is still having to explain to HIS entire distribution list, which includes his many corporate clients, that he has not really ‘come out of the closet’ … and in fact, was never ‘in’ it to begin with!
Like all computer related stuff, Facebook can be a good tool, such as when long lost friends reconnect over time and space. However, there are a few of my own missing-in-action friends I’ve been trying desperately to find, and Facebook has been of no help whatsoever in locating them. The ‘lack of privacy’ issue also really bugs me. If I write something on my Facebook page, I do NOT want everyone I know to be notified of it. That’s just plain embarrassing and annoying, and it was actually happening there for awhile, though just how or why I never quite figured out. Now it’s one thing if someone decides to log onto my page and read what I’ve written; but another entirely if they are interrupted during the course of their busy day to find out that I’m ‘...currently contemplating the state of my navel’ or some other such nonsense. Recently I discovered that I am a ‘fan’ of 35 things. How did this happen? And why these particular things? I admit it’s all a bit over my head at this point.
The final blow was that somehow I ended up with TWO Facebook pages. Don’t ask me how, but there have been two since last fall. The original one has my profile, my photo, and an old defunct email address. But since it also contains a lot of the folks I’ve added as my ‘friends’, as well as their comments, I decided that this one should stay. The second one however, had no photo, no profile, but it had my name and birthdate (and now everyone on the planet knows that I am going to be 56 years old next week). It also had my current email. Last night, FINALLY, I figured out how to delete a Facebook account, one of the Great Mysteries of the Modern World, and I boldly decided to delete my Faceless Facebook page. Poof! One swift click (as they say) and the one without my photo was gone. With only one account now, and life much simpler, I went in to my one remaining Facebook page and tried to change my email from my old useless one to the new. And guess what? Even if you delete your account, they still save it for you in case you change your mind. I was told “That e-mail address is unavailable. It belongs to another user.” Aargh!!!! That’s ME, you idiots!! So I give up… This is my Last Will and Testimony against the frustrations of Facebook. All in all, I think its not worth it. For what its worth, here, in a nutshell, is all you need to know about me:
There is a legitimate reason, however, why my presence on Facebook is both rare and fleeting. In a word, it is: FEAR. I did purchase Facebook for Dummies, but I know firsthand some really embarrassing, unintentional faux pas that have happened to my fellow ‘over the hill’ crowd of friends who have dabbled dangerously in the Facebook World. One is a dear sweet Christian woman I know and love, who wouldn’t hurt a fly. One day she accidentally clicked on something that sent a “swift kick in the ‘groin’” (well, not exactly that, but if you use your imagination you’ll get the general idea). It went out to her complete distribution list, including her entire church congregation and her pastor. She was beyond mortified, especially when a normally nice gentleman at her church sarcastically said “Gee, thanks!” to her the following Sunday. She had no idea what he was talking about. Then there was the friend of a friend, the CEO of a really huge business I know of, who had been to the “Apple” store in Boston, just killing time while his wife and daughter went clothes shopping. He went in to check out the new laptops, and while there he decided to check his Facebook page. When his family finally came in to retrieve him a little while later and take him out for lunch, he left, forgetting to log out of his account on the store’s computer. This of course was an open invitation for some other patron with a quirky sense of humor to have a field day at his expense. He is still having to explain to HIS entire distribution list, which includes his many corporate clients, that he has not really ‘come out of the closet’ … and in fact, was never ‘in’ it to begin with!
Like all computer related stuff, Facebook can be a good tool, such as when long lost friends reconnect over time and space. However, there are a few of my own missing-in-action friends I’ve been trying desperately to find, and Facebook has been of no help whatsoever in locating them. The ‘lack of privacy’ issue also really bugs me. If I write something on my Facebook page, I do NOT want everyone I know to be notified of it. That’s just plain embarrassing and annoying, and it was actually happening there for awhile, though just how or why I never quite figured out. Now it’s one thing if someone decides to log onto my page and read what I’ve written; but another entirely if they are interrupted during the course of their busy day to find out that I’m ‘...currently contemplating the state of my navel’ or some other such nonsense. Recently I discovered that I am a ‘fan’ of 35 things. How did this happen? And why these particular things? I admit it’s all a bit over my head at this point.
The final blow was that somehow I ended up with TWO Facebook pages. Don’t ask me how, but there have been two since last fall. The original one has my profile, my photo, and an old defunct email address. But since it also contains a lot of the folks I’ve added as my ‘friends’, as well as their comments, I decided that this one should stay. The second one however, had no photo, no profile, but it had my name and birthdate (and now everyone on the planet knows that I am going to be 56 years old next week). It also had my current email. Last night, FINALLY, I figured out how to delete a Facebook account, one of the Great Mysteries of the Modern World, and I boldly decided to delete my Faceless Facebook page. Poof! One swift click (as they say) and the one without my photo was gone. With only one account now, and life much simpler, I went in to my one remaining Facebook page and tried to change my email from my old useless one to the new. And guess what? Even if you delete your account, they still save it for you in case you change your mind. I was told “That e-mail address is unavailable. It belongs to another user.” Aargh!!!! That’s ME, you idiots!! So I give up… This is my Last Will and Testimony against the frustrations of Facebook. All in all, I think its not worth it. For what its worth, here, in a nutshell, is all you need to know about me:
1. My real email is LodgeLady@ilovethelodge.com and you may write me if you wish.
2. You can read about my family and me on the innkeepers page of our website at: http://www.ilovethelodge.com/innkeepers/index.php
3. My personal blogging site is: http://ilovethelodge.blogspot.com/
4. I am soon to be the Mountain Farmgirl blogger for Mary Jane’s farm. You can read about it in her newsletter at: http://www.farmgirlsisterhood.org/newsletter/2010-05-01.pdf
5. We won a contest, and we’re about to get a Tumbleweed Tiny House from Jay Shafer’s Tiny House Company. You can see it at http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/
6. I am working on a creative, exciting and challenging project: Women’s Weekend Workshops at my little Lodge Cabin, and will soon have them available here.
And now that you know most of what’s worth knowing about me, and I know how to delete my account, I think I will soon be another faceless name in Facebook history.
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