bats

You see most of what I post on FB but not all of my FB friends do. Some of my posts are only seen by my family and very close friends. I chose who I want to share information with in the same way that we do on here and even in real life.

BristolUK

Hey-ulp!

DandNHill

Same you see everything I post. My favorite are the doggy posts 🐶

DandNHill

Oh no. Now I understand why they need to post!!!! 😱

Paul_Shepherd

It has its plus points, and maybe I dont see that side of it as im stubborn and refuse to give in to the social media way of life, Ive seen it cause more harm than good from people that take it too seriously.

I suppose this site isnt too far way from it really....but at least we all have one thing in common on here,....mainly that we are expats living in another country, and so we share experiences of its different aspects....and how they effect us.

BristolUK

What? Outrageous. Wash your mouth out with coriander.

dbd33

I live the social media way of life and have done since the fin-de-siècle. Admittedly, I try not to take life too seriously, but what harm do I risk?

Paul_Shepherd

Agreed that was a bit of a slur on BE!

I do like coriander though.

BristolUK

You don't think it tastes of soap then?

Paul_Shepherd

None as such.....I just think it changes people and their behaviour. Most people act very false when they are online, many take social media very seriously.

I have been watching a great show on Netflix called Black Mirror, set in the near future, its about how modern technology or trends can be damaging to society and the way we live our lives.

The way social media is going who knows what it could become and the way it could change peoples behaviour in say 20 years from now....it sort of creeps without you noticing and becomes the norm, this show portrayed this and other modern behavioural habits as a consequence of modern technology very well.... quite throught provoking infact.

Paul_Shepherd

Only if you overdose on it. mixed with other spices its great!

Siouxie

Interesting last few posts..

I earn my living through social media (moderation and engagement) and the thing that irritates me are the mindless comments against specific brands or people, sometimes numbering in their hundreds. The language encountered sometimes is horrendous and I ask myself why they feel the need to spout profanities to get their point across. I often think 'do you really have nothing better or more important to do than post over and over again?'

As for personal Social Media, I keep my FB to a few close friends and family who I am interested in keeping in touch with and keeping track of what's happening in their lives. I've stopped following a few, I disliked one persons endless posts (complete with photos) of what they cooked that day or what they were having for breakfast/lunch/dinner (including the recipe) day in, day out; another posted dozens of times a day 'sharing' or 'liking' posts that I had zero interest in (mainly sports related). I can still see the important stuff, but just not the 'fluff'.

Social media, IMHO, has it's place - but when it takes over lives to the point where people become obsessed with it, I think it's a bit sad. (not including BE of course!)



(I like coriander too )

BristolUK

At this point I feel I should link to another thread posts number 43 and 44...just in case.

(although I now see at least one spotted the connection )

dbd33

It's an interesting idea but, having been online for so long, I don't know that I have a different persona in real life than on the internet. I suspect I have become dbd. Some background:

- around 1999 I discovered the Guardian talkboard, then a pioneer in newspaper chat facilities. In that era I traveled constantly for business and something I liked about the board was that I could meet people from it wherever I was. I met the person now known as Souvy by that means around that time. I met very many people in the US and in England, many of whom I still know. One American I met by that means came to live with me in Canada for seven years. I suppose I may have met 300 people in a "go for a beer" kind of way. Only 2 turned out to be absolute nutters.

- while I lived with the American we moved from Toronto to the country and ran a blog on the theme of urban people bewildered by the country. A good number of people wrote to us about topics on the blog and I'm still in touch with some of those.

- I've been posting here for evah and am married to someone I met through this board. I used to go to the meet ups routinely and met a fair number of posters.

- I have a facebook account, many of the friends on there are from this site or work related (I don't bother with linkedin, my clients are all on facebook).

- I have an instagram account as my children, although one is a parent herself, are too young for facebook.

I think it fair to say that I'm no different online than in person and, importantly, very few of the people I met from the internet were different than their online persona led me to expect.

What is it that you think people do differently online, that's false, that they wouldn't do in a bar?

BristolUK

I think it's fairly universally accepted that people behave in a very different fashion with anonymity than they do without. I'd probably take issue with 'most' though.