Along with the Facebook epidemic comes the news feed — a peek into the lives of all of your “friends.”
I can tell you what my sister in Iowa had for breakfast this morning and how many hours of sleep my elementary school friend had. This public journal, so to speak, blurs the line between privacy and public content.
And while I’m guilty of posting updates that answer that infamous question, “What’s on your mind?” I think some things need to remain private.
Quarrels with your deployed soldier, for example, should probably not be posted all over your Facebook page. What happened to the days when we would call up a close friend to vent in confidence about the trials in our lives? Now we just type up a probably too harsh (because of the extra courage the shield of the internet seems to provide) wall post and send it out for everyone to read, including our soldier’s coworkers, family and friends.
Anyone who has ever met me could tell you that I’ll be singing the internet’s praises no matter the flaws because of the wonderful tool it’s been in keeping communication open with my husband. No matter where he is, he can call me up from his computer or video conference with me. This is a blessing that shouldn’t be taken for granted.
But along with the blessing of the internet comes its curse. Dramatic back-and-forths that probably shouldn’t be witnessed by anyone deemed OK for friend approval take up an overwhelming amount of my news feed lately, it seems. I just wonder what good it does. When the internet can be used as a tool to keep your marriage in tact, it’s awful to use it to escalate small disagreements into public displays of affliction.
I can tell you what my sister in Iowa had for breakfast this morning and how many hours of sleep my elementary school friend had. This public journal, so to speak, blurs the line between privacy and public content.
And while I’m guilty of posting updates that answer that infamous question, “What’s on your mind?” I think some things need to remain private.
Quarrels with your deployed soldier, for example, should probably not be posted all over your Facebook page. What happened to the days when we would call up a close friend to vent in confidence about the trials in our lives? Now we just type up a probably too harsh (because of the extra courage the shield of the internet seems to provide) wall post and send it out for everyone to read, including our soldier’s coworkers, family and friends.
Anyone who has ever met me could tell you that I’ll be singing the internet’s praises no matter the flaws because of the wonderful tool it’s been in keeping communication open with my husband. No matter where he is, he can call me up from his computer or video conference with me. This is a blessing that shouldn’t be taken for granted.
But along with the blessing of the internet comes its curse. Dramatic back-and-forths that probably shouldn’t be witnessed by anyone deemed OK for friend approval take up an overwhelming amount of my news feed lately, it seems. I just wonder what good it does. When the internet can be used as a tool to keep your marriage in tact, it’s awful to use it to escalate small disagreements into public displays of affliction.