Your presence on social media

R

Rose65

Well-known Member
Location
United Kingdom
How much of yourself and your life do you discuss on your personal Facebook page, or other social media?
I used to post regularly about all sorts of things, my thoughts, my health, books I was reading, places we went. I would feel a curious obligation to put little reports and photos of any trips we took. It was nice to get 'likes' and comments.

I eventually realised this all seemed futile and I was wasting valuable time. So gradually I stopped posting and nobody appears to have noticed! I had a reasonable number of 'friends', certainly not hundreds. But now I just message privately with a handful of people I really do get on with and it is fine, I feel comfortable. I don't want to be so visible and open any more. Though I hasten to say I've always had maximum security measures up, only friends could see my postings.

I've put this topic in this section because I do believe our social media presence plays a big part in our mental state. I feel safer and easier being private and I no longer look for praise and approval by seeking 'likes' and lots of 'friends'.

I truly wonder about people who seem to put their whole life and every thought on social media, mainly for scrutiny by strangers.
 

I am not on social media. I don't even read others Facebook pages or whatever. I really don't care what people are doing with their lives. It's really none of my business, yet if you criticize anything they are doing or where they are going, they want to debate their reasons for doing something or going somewhere.

That tells me they are looking for support. I have a friend that went to China for 2 weeks and then to Taiwan and Hong Kong. I had to sit and listen to almost 2 hours of a dissertation that I couldn't care less about.
 
I am not a huge social media person. I do not use my real name on FB. The only way someone would know its me, is by my profile pic. Also, my hubby do not like his pic on FB. At one time, I had a problem with that but I now understand and I respect that. But I have sneaked a pic of him and I. I am hardly on FB. When I am up there, I post positive quotes or a pic of my daughter and I eating out.
I call Facebook "Fakebook" šŸ¤£šŸ¤£šŸ¤£
 
I agree this fits in with mental health. I put most on this forum and the childhood abuse forum I go to. I haven't posted anything personal on my facebook page in 2-3 years and that's been cat picures. I had co-workers send me friend requests which I accepted even if I have no interest in them.

I comment on the cat rescue and eagle cam pages I follow on Facebook. I use the messenger to talk with one trusted co-worker and the woman who co-founded PAWS thrift store.

I follow the former KGO San Francisco Newstalk hosts on Instagram and Youtube and cat rescue organizations where I leave comments.

So I am a little on social media. But there are people who post a lot and a lot of personal stuff. I remember watching a cop show where a woman was murdered who put everything she did all day on social media. Even taking a picture of and posting the muffin she was about to eat on social media. While this was just a show, you have to wonder if this goes on in real life also and I'll bet it does.
 
I'll also add: When I went to that torture of a CPR class at work last Wednesday, it wasn't lost on me that office people were taking the class on the clock while the rest were there on their own time. Even some having to come back for PM shift that day. The office person sitting next to me was scrolling facebook on her phone during the class. This woman is over 50. What's the obsession? I don't get it. Plus it was unprofessional but professionalism seem gone for good.
 
Rose65 said:
How much of yourself and your life do you discuss on your personal Facebook page, or other social media?


I truly wonder about people who seem to put their whole life and every thought on social media, mainly for scrutiny by strangers.
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For security reasons my Facebook profile is only visible to family and friends(real friends!), so I'll occasionally comment on real life matters but I'm not really revealing anything that more people don't already know.

I actually discuss more personal matters on SF than Facebook. Other forums that I belong to are much less personal, discussion being mostly about computers or cars, etc.
 
Since I use my real name on Facebook, I never post things of a deeply personal nature like I do here on SF. I may share opinions in private groups, one in particular that was established by a good friend. No topic is off the table in that one. I established and manage our family photo group, a group dedicated to my late DIL and one for we former Eons members. All of those are private.
 
On FB, my partner posts all the pics when we go to a concert or travel to an interesting place. I am only tagged. I rarely post. I'm not interested in sharing my personal or political views on FB. I do sometimes get more in-depth in this forum and another political forum.
 
Nathan said:
For security reasons my Facebook profile is only visible to family and friends(real friends!), so I'll occasionally comment on real life matters but I'm not really revealing anything that more people don't already know.

I actually discuss more personal matters on SF than Facebook. Other forums that I belong to are much less personal, discussion being mostly about computers or cars, etc.
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Me too. I stay neutral, information is dangerous. Most groups I use a pseudonym. On FB groups of mutual interests, I keep to the subject never giving extra information.

People are far far too open on the internet.
 
My life is an open book on the internet. I wrote 4 blogs and detailed how I was living on my off the grid homestead in those. I had an eBay and Amazon stores plus my own websites so used to promote those through social media. I still use Fb and everyone on there who can see my timeline now are my family and friends. Many of my friends on there came from being readers of my blogs and the Homesteading Today forum. After all these years I forget that I do not know them in person.

It keeps me in contact with all my cousins daily which I love. Plus people I was friends with when I was in school who I thought I would never hear about again. And some that I used to work with at various jobs. Nobody can see my content unless I change it to public or if I comment on someone else's post. And nobody can send me a private message or friend request unless we have a mutual friend. I am careful about everything. I have been online since 1993 when I used bulletin boards and DOS.
 
Born_To_Lose said:
I am not on social media. I don't even read others Facebook pages or whatever. I really don't care what people are doing with their lives. It's really none of my business, yet if you criticize anything they are doing or where they are going, they want to debate their reasons for doing something or going somewhere.

That tells me they are looking for support. I have a friend that went to China for 2 weeks and then to Taiwan and Hong Kong. I had to sit and listen to almost 2 hours of a dissertation that I couldn't care less about.
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um...yes you are.
 
Rose65 said:
How much of yourself and your life do you discuss on your personal Facebook page, or other social media?
I used to post regularly about all sorts of things, my thoughts, my health, books I was reading, places we went. I would feel a curious obligation to put little reports and photos of any trips we took. It was nice to get 'likes' and comments.

I eventually realised this all seemed futile and I was wasting valuable time. So gradually I stopped posting and nobody appears to have noticed! I had a reasonable number of 'friends', certainly not hundreds. But now I just message privately with a handful of people I really do get on with and it is fine, I feel comfortable. I don't want to be so visible and open any more. Though I hasten to say I've always had maximum security measures up, only friends could see my postings.

I've put this topic in this section because I do believe our social media presence plays a big part in our mental state. I feel safer and easier being private and I no longer look for praise and approval by seeking 'likes' and lots of 'friends'.

I truly wonder about people who seem to put their whole life and every thought on social media, mainly for scrutiny by strangers.
Click to expand...
The less social media has on me the better. I always looked at it like sharing and maybe getting feedback. However, it turns out I was just hearing my own thoughts sort of. And, the less some fiend out there gets on me, the better. People put WAY too much stuff out there.
 
Social media can be helpful for some people; sometimes due to various reasons, a person's online friends may be the only friends they have/are able to have. Then again, sometimes one might get a false sense of friendship from online contacts: I was beginning to wonder about such contacts on a site other than this one. So out of curiosity, I either replied to a thread (or started a new one, can't remember which) with gibberish (a string of keyboard characters that made no sense) to see if anyone in that group would contact me ("Are you ok?", etc.).

There were a few replies to the thread about "Huh. Wonder what she means. Oh, well." Not one person DM'd me or even posted a reply to the thread asking me what was going on. So I dropped out of that group; the content was only mildly interesting to me anyway and obviously the others in it didn't consider me an online friend, so why bother? I decided to spend more of my time here on SF.
 
I deleted my FB account about 10yrs ago.
I was getting tons of spam email at an email address that I only used for FB.
So I knew that NOTHING on FB was secure even though my strong account password was not compromised.

Now I even use a browser add-on that blocks any attempts for FB tracking or saving of FB third party cookies.
You'd be surprised the number of sites that have nothing to do with FB, yet FB tracks your browsing habits.

After all, FB is free, so WE are the product.

I don't miss FB at all, although I had "FB withdrawal" for a day or two.
So glad I deleted my FB account. There are other ways to stay in touch with people important to ourselves.
 
jet said:
i dont do facebook
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Me neither, Iā€™ve learnt to be a lot more private than when I first started using these sites, and I prefer sites where profiles can be inaccessible, unless I chose otherwise

As much as I enjoy interacting with SF members I scroll past way more threads than I read

I have a few trustworthy friends here but, in general, I donā€™t assume anybody is interested in my private life any more than I am in theirs
 
Rose65 said:
How much of yourself and your life do you discuss on your personal Facebook page, or other social media?
I used to post regularly about all sorts of things, my thoughts, my health, books I was reading, places we went. I would feel a curious obligation to put little reports and photos of any trips we took. It was nice to get 'likes' and comments.

I eventually realised this all seemed futile and I was wasting valuable time. So gradually I stopped posting and nobody appears to have noticed! I had a reasonable number of 'friends', certainly not hundreds. But now I just message privately with a handful of people I really do get on with and it is fine, I feel comfortable. I don't want to be so visible and open any more. Though I hasten to say I've always had maximum security measures up, only friends could see my postings.

I've put this topic in this section because I do believe our social media presence plays a big part in our mental state. I feel safer and easier being private and I no longer look for praise and approval by seeking 'likes' and lots of 'friends'.

I truly wonder about people who seem to put their whole life and every thought on social media, mainly for scrutiny by strangers.
Click to expand...
Iā€™m not on Facebook or Twitter, Instagram or any of that. I donā€™t share photos of family and never ever mention names. The other day I shared about having a relationship with an inlaw after a divorce. Having a relationship when thereā€™s a break up is tough stuff.

Iā€™m a lot more discreet online than I used to be. Some people enjoy stalking and instigating online as a form of entertainment
 
officerripley said:
Social media can be helpful for some people; sometimes due to various reasons, a person's online friends may be the only friends they have/are able to have.
Click to expand...
True facts. I can honestly say that most of my dearest and lasting friends have been from either my old pen palling days or online, some from way back in the BBS days. Death just took my longest lasting pen pal friendship from me last year (we later moved to email.) We started writing around 1980.

Other side of the fence... I had three very close friends in high school. Still connected to all three on Facebook, but no interaction whatsoever. I'm a chatterbox... pure and simple. I hesitate PMing anyone here because I sure don't want to appear pushy... not everyone likes to chatter like I do. :giggle:
 

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