Face Book

Well the beauty of any media (paper or electronic) is we all have the right to NOT read it!

Personally I LOVE FB. Communicate easily with many family members and friends and neighbors I wouldn't otherwise know so well. When somebodies daily post are annoying, I just block them. Get to spy on my kids everyday too.

To each, his own, as my mother always said, right?

:)

Facebook doesn't bother me at all. If people are classless enough to be continually broadcasting every portion of their lives, I am thankful that I have the option of passing it by.
People who let it all hang out on Facebook do it in real life too. They are the people that you see at the grocery store that send you diving behind a display of toilet paper just to avoid talking to them. At least on Facebook you can ignore them without being rude! :)

Facebook isn't much different than putting all kinds of personal information here on Mamapedia. One is still airing all their dirty laundry, albeit for a different audience. Some people just prefer different formats.

The good thing? If one doesn't like it they do not have to participate!

I don't post that kind of personal detail on FB - my friends don't either. Not everyone is as tactless and crass as your boyfriend's family.

I love FB because I'm able to connect with people that I might not otherwise and keep up-to-date on what's happening with them.

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I LOVE Facebook! I don't put my business out there like that.

Some people think "if I post this - it MIGHT go viral"...seriously - that's how our age of technology and the mass media has affected our lives....

If I have people in my "friends" list that puts it all out there - I block their posts or just unfriend them. If they even notice - I tell them straight up - your posts were just too much for me - my kids can be with me when I'm catching up on FB - so there are things I don't like them to see.

It's called lack of social skills and etiquette.....YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS....NOT ALL FB USERS ARE LIKE THIS!

I also love FB. My mom feels the same way you feel, but I keep trying to tell her not everyone is like that and you don't have to be friends with people like that if you don't want to. Plus there are ways to block those feeds.

I came into contact with my favorite teacher ever and she taught me in 4th & then again in 7th grade! She moved to another city so had it not been for facebook I may have never heard from her again. I love catching up with her and I was able to take the opportunity to tell her she was my favorite teacher. And then there are so many more opportunities like this for me with other people.

There are those people on there that like to share every detail or too much detail but I just block their feeds from my page or unfriend them. Its as simple as that. Otherwise, its great hearing how the little girls I babysat as a teenager next door that were 4 & 2 at the time (and that I moved away from) are now in college and one just got accepted into medical school.

So yeah, I think its fantastic!

Because facebook is free. lol. Yeah thats TMI!!

Your question is the same as asking, "Why are there so many idiots on this planet?", you're never going to get a satisfactory answer to that one.

Some people are infantile & some people aren't. Unfortunately for you, sounds like your family is heavily laden with dopes.

Not everyone uses Facebook for that type on nonsense. Some of us catch up with family spread out all over the world. Some of us use it to share important news. Some of us know enough not to just add whoever requests us as a friend & keep all of our pages on a private setting. It all just depends on the user to be honest.

I love facebook! But would be horrified to go into that much detail. Some people just don't know how to use it appropriately :)

I have a Facebook account and use it to keep in touch with my family. I'm over 1500 miles away from any family. It's easier for me to post on there then to sit and call each and every one of them. Plus I can upload pics of my kids and everyone can see them grow up.

Now, do I post every little thing, usually, no. There are some days where I'll post that I'm not feeling well, or that I'm cranky.

Lastly, my Facebook is private. I don't know if that matters, but the only people who can see anything are family and friends that I "friend"

I actually just 'hid' one person today. My first ever! I couldn't help it. It was getting under my skin. I don't care that you just drank a slim fast!!!!

sorry, just had to let that out.

I don't think Facebook is the problem- never has been. It's the people that use Facebook that are the problem. There are some people I care about that are just plain annoying and offensive. I just hide their posts. No big deal.

I use facebook as a tool to accomplish what I want to accomplish. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when the grocery stores in our area put out their new ads and sales, I look for the best prices and post them on Facebook for my family and friends to see. It helps my kids and friends save money. I use it to complement my nieces and nephews on their accomplishments and give them the benefits of my experiences if they ask for help. It works for me that way. Like I said, its a tool.

My family (8 kids) has a "private" account only for family that we put family events on and invitations to events on that.

I've never found any stuff on facebook like you say your family posts, but it sounds like you were exagerating and said that because of your frustrations and anger, not because it actually happens.

Good luck to you and yours.

I love FB, but with that being said, I only have my friends that I talk to on a weekly basis and family members on mine. I post pictures of all the kids for family members that live far away. My Uncle lives in S.C. so it is nice to see his kids on a regular basis. I however do not post about my sex life, cramps etc... I go as far to say I am having a good/bad day, but that is about it. I also use it to say Happy Birthday to friends and family members.

I love Facebook, and I doubt it will ever go away, it has paved a new way for the entire world to communicate in one forum. It's pretty daunting when you look at the big picture. I remember in the old days we had a partyline on our phones. If you wanted to use your phone you had to ask the person who was already sharing the line to please hang up, and you never knew if they were going to pick up the phone and listen to your conversation. So, the phone company finally fixed that so we could all have what we thought was a "private" conversation with someone. NOW, everyone talks openly. We hear and see more about people than we ever have before. Learning to "process" all this info is the challenge. My advice is to learn to use the social sites and use them maturely. I wont be surprised when school becomes a site just like Facebook and your kids wont be leaving home to go to class anymore, it will all be done online.

FB is liek anything else - it can be used well - or horribly mis-used. I find it to be a wonderful to keep up with family and friends. See what my friends daughters, and daughter's friends are wearing to the prom, stay up to date on my neices young families since they live if different states, etc. While I do post frequently about sometimes silly things, sometimes serious stuff (I can update family & friends aobut my mom's battle with cancer - in general terms) I would NEVER include anything about body functions, or anything personal or embaressing. And vacations are nto posted until AFTER we come back.

If your family is on FB I suggest you sign up too and "friend" them so you can keep up with what's going on in their life - that way you can find out when they go maried instead of 6 months later. But aside from FB - seems that there's some dysfunction there - it happens in so many families!

Some people post WAY too much information! Facebook is just like any other social networking site (including this one), it is what you make of it. It's not Facebook's fault that some people feel the need to broadcast their every movement! I love it because it's a way I can keep in touch with family and friends that I don't see very often. I don't update every time I go to the bathroom nor do I broadcast my personal business on there.

I think that FB is what you want it to be and some people just like the attention or can't keep their typing to themselves. If it wasn't FB it would be MySpace, or Twitter, or a blog. I think the people you describe have the bigger issue of not having any respect for privacy, theirs or someone else's. The lines between what's fit to share have gotten very blurred.

I do not know anyone that posts the things you are saying these people are posting. Even the teens on my list of friends do not behave this way.. The people you mentioned sound like they would be obnoxious even without facebook.

If they were on my list of "friends" I would simply "hide" them.

Facebook has been an a amazing tool for us. We have found long lost friends, neighbors. We keep up with our families. But there is an etiquette. We have taught our children that whatever is posted is always going to be there. Also we have our Grandmother (our kids great grandmother) on there, so we try to be on a pretty good behaviors..

I have a FB account and I have to admit it's addicting in the beginning to look up old friends, flames, etc. to see what they are up to. However, now I have limited myself to mainly only having family and very close friends as my FB friends. I do not post much, and I can't stand the people who post every detail of their life, or use it as a pity party board for themselves. Some people post's annoyed me so much that I had to finally defriend them because i was sick of the Poor Me this and Poor Me that, give me attention, attention, attention! Couldn't stand it! So I understand what you're saying!

I have a love/hate relationship with facebook. I love staying in touch with out of state friends and family... I hate petty b!tches trying to get in my fiances pants ;) It's more good than evil!! My profile is super private, so unless I approve you as a friend, you see nothing.

Yep my sister (a SAHM of two boys) posts every day that she's cleaning the upstairs, cleaning the bathrooms, doing laundry, one of the boys is sitting on the couch right now...who cares?! lol I think some people over-use it, or give TMI whether it's boring stuff or personal stuff. I have an account because I have family all over the country and it's the easiest way to share pictures, etc. - but I've been considering closing my account. I rarely post anything, and I've gotten caught up in some games that I feel I HAVE to play every day--it's becoming more of a burden than a fun thing. Only thing is, it's a good way to get coupons sometimes. I dunno, I'm still one the fence about it. But no one says you HAVE to share personal info on your account--I don't.

I have a handful of friends that give me the hour-by-hour updates and I've 'hid' them. And let me tell you, I feel no guilt about it either!

But you can put me on the list as a Facebook junkie. I love hearing what's going on with my family and friends.

Each person uses FB in a different way I have noticed. Some people post all day long (way too much! I often end up hiding those people bc it's just too much info!). Some post once a day. Some post once a week. Some post once every two weeks or once a month. I use it to share photos/videos with family and good friends. I used to feel annoyed with FB...the act of sharing your day to day thoughts seemed a bit too much...the personal info seemed weird...having all these people see what you write. I think I like more privacy than that. But I've gotten used to it and find it's a nice way to keep in touch with people. I get on once a week or so. Since moving I have found I really enjoy keeping up with friends that I miss on FB. My mom, aunts and grandfather like it bc they can see photos of our family. Anyway...I do agree that those who are posting all day long are a little crazy! It must become like an addiction to some people. It's a Pavlovian effect really...you get positive reinforcement every time someone answers your post. So some people want to do it more and more. And the more they do it the more they are rewarded.

To each his own is how I feel about FB. I personally like FB, but I don't post any personal stuff on the site. However, if others chose to then that's their choice regardless of how boring or even inappropriate it may seem to you. There's on nice option about FB that I use all the time. If you don't want to read something that someone posts just hide them and you won't see anything from them and yet they stay on your friends list! It's probably a good thing you don't have a FB account! :)

I think it's a personal decision. Some people just have no tact, and some don't get that what they put on facebook is out there for the world to see (and these are usually the first ones who complain about the "lack of privacy provided" ...)

I personally use FB because it has allowed me to reconnect with people from high school. We chat about things on FB and are definitely more connected than before, but I don't fool myself that this replaces face-to-face contact. It's just nice to know what my old schoolmates are up to.

My policy is, if I don't want it general knowledge, don't post it. My kids are "Miss Girl," "Thing 1," and "Thing 2" in my FB posts regarding them (which aren't too often), or just "the kids" or something. I don't want to put their names, ages, etc out there for everyone to see. I am also similarly vague with other personal info and try to keep my posts from having TMI, but not everybody is like that.

Since you don't like it, there's no reason to get an account. And what your bf's daughter and brother do is their business, even if they want to make it everyone's business, so don't bother with it. You won't change them.

No Offense taken, I wouldn't like that either. Fortunately my friends and family aren't like the people you have described so it is a lot of fun for me. I do have very diverse friends so I often wonder if the world will implode if my very liberal friends ever see some of my very conservative friends posts or visa versa. ;-) Seriously they are all civil and mature so I should thank them for being such good Facebook friends.

I'm not bothered by 'fb'. Not everyone tells all their business on there. 'facebook' is an excellent way for distant family and friends to stay in touch. The people you described sound mostly young, but totally immature. Even if they didn't have 'facebook' they'd just be on the phone telling all their business or telling it all at a family gathering.
It seems to me that 'facebook' isn't your issue rather the person or people that come running to tell you everything that happens on there. Tell them to hush and stop listening to their gossip. :)

I love Facebook. I am a Facebook addict : ) My friends that do what you are referring to get hidden and that list seems to grow. I have my profile set to private so that I can share what I want with my family. We are pretty spread out and it works for us. However I don't post everything. My husbands favorite saying is that he really doesn't need to know that someone is getting off facebook to go to the restroom. Do people really think we want to know that?

I get annoyed sometimes by it as well, yes. It seems much more generational, the ones posting every little detail of their lives. I, too, have extended family (the under 25 year old set) that posts every irritation they have with a spouse or complaint they have about someone--it's like passive aggressive! I won't tell YOU what I think, but I'll POST it for EVERYONE ELSE to see. I try to not look at those pages too much.

My page is set to private. ONLY my friends can see it. And like 8kidsdad, I like to comment on pictures/postings my older teen nieces post. One is in college, and it is nice to hear that she made an A on her Chem final exam. :) But the cryptic, coded, passive aggressive comments some people post, I could easily do without. And yeah, I believe you when you say some people put their intimate details of life on their accounts (that time of the month, diarhea, etc included). Some people just.... hmmm.. how to put it gently.....have no couth (?)......

I will say this, though. You can be friends with people and not have their status updates post to your "news feed".... so you don't HAVE to see all those comments/status reports if you don't want to. :)

I LOVE facebook! lol. But for me, it's mainly a way to keep in touch with my family friends. They live on the other side of the country, and have never met my DD. So it's a great resource for me to use without having to burn up all my phone minutes!

In my opinion...You choose WHO you are friends with on FB. If you don't like what they put..."unfriend" them. If you are really bothered by FB don't use it, instead keep in touch with your close friends by e-mail! Just a thought.

Everyone uses facebook differently. I don't put up info about cramps, vomiting, and the like. I am mostly friends with my family. Cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews. It's so great to see pictures of my family and their kids. I do have some regular friends and love to see what's going on with them as well.
I am not bothered by it. I don't understand some people that have 400 friends...I don't even think I KNOW 400 people! I just have a small number and love to know what's going on with them.
L.

I am one who loves Facebook. Our family is spread far and wide across the country -- and across the ocean in some cases. We LOVE to share pictures and keep current on what others are doing. I LOVE the fact that I am in contact with people I never would have even seen or heard from if it weren't for Facebook.

To each his own. If you don't like it, just don't do it. I happen to love it.

It really varies from person to person regarding facebook. Some go way over board and share way too much, in that case to me they are either looking for attention or think that piece of personal info would be interesting to all (even if it really is something that should be kept personal). With texting and other social networks I think some have lost what is appropriate to share with everyone as well as lack of sensitivity on how to approach different situations.

In my case the privacy settings are set high and only half of my "friends" can see what I put on facebook. The people that can see the most are close friends and family. I would never put anything as trivial as a pimple or cramps but none of my friends would either (some do put down what they are having to eat that day, but I am ok with that). In the end just ignore it, there are many people that I have blocked from seeing what they post because they post ridiculous and sometimes offensive stuff.

I love it, but I live 1,500 miles away from my family and many many friends. It allows me to post multiple pictures or videos of our kids without having to upload each one individually to an e-mail or a photo site like snapfish and then send out the link. if people want to see, they can, if they don't, no biggie. I can keep in touch with the people I love easily, but I can just as easily skim past what I don't "want" to know. My security settings are up, only "friends" can view my pictures, etc. It has made keeping in touch so much easier for my family.

Not everyone puts out too much info on FB. That depends on you. I have one, I log in everyday to see what's everyone up to but i hardly post. When i post it will be a shout out to somebody's birthday, shout out to my friends, etc etc. But i guess it depends how tacky the person is, believe me, i have friends that can be disgusting as well

I love facebook. Everybody uses it differently and that's fine. Some people are more open in 'real' life, so it's not incredible that they would be more open on facebook as well. I find it annoying when my mom friends post about their kids every ten minutes. But that's their life. Who are we to judge?

I do think posting about your period and diarrhea are going a bit far. But, as with everything, you don't HAVE to like it.

I love f/b, I like knowing what my friends thought of that was quirky today, or if they are throwing a party, or if their kid just spoke. Im more connected now because i hate making phone calls.

I haven't been on Facebook for over a week now and my life seems fuller. I am getting more things done and not reading all the nonsense that I would tell my hubby about every day. Usually it was stuff that eerked me. I feel better not knowing everybody's business.

How in the world do you know what these people are posting if you aren't even on Facebook?

I have FB and I stay in touch with my family and friends from out of state. My FB is set on private and the ONLY people who can see my profile and/or pics are friends only.

I do not post every detail of my day or business. I do have a relative, however, that posts everytime her baby poops. It is a running joke now to see what she will actually post on her profile.

FB is not for everyone and if it is not for you... that's ok. You just do what is right for you and don't worry about it.

It's a communication tool, like any other. It's the user that's the issue. If you handed cell phones to a random selection of 100 people. Some would only use it for emergencies, some would use them to call their mother's to keep abreast of their health, still others would spend an inordinate amount of time glued to it chit-chatting to acquaintances about every inane little thing that pops into their head.

As you walk back into history, much of what is said over phones, written in letters or pushed over the airwaves onto your television set need never be documented, but it happens. Facebook is just another way to do it. I have a friend who uses her facebook to post scans of her artwork, still another that writes hilarious one liners every other day and still others who never say a word but you know they are there as they stealthily hit the "like" button on many postings. It's a pleasure to have everyone connected together all in one place. And yes, I have the friend who likes to take a picture of her lunch every day and describe the flavor of her burps. So it's not facebook that is the real issue, but the people you decide to "friend". Family becomes an issue because you can't choose them. You're just stuck with them, pimples and all.

Not everyone shares that much information on Facebook. In my case, I have very strict privacy settings, and I only friend people I know personally and wish to interact with. I use Facebook as a tool to keep up with friends and family who live across the country. They can see photos of my son, which otherwise they would be unlikely to see... mass emailing photographs simply takes too much time when Facebook is as convenient as it is. Everyone uses Facebook to communicate in a different way. If you don't like how people use it, don't participate, hide those users from your updates, or simply defriend them. My advice if you don't like it - don't even go to the site. Realize that it can be a very effective social networking tool for some individuals, and respect that everyone else has different needs and wants that you do.