| Responding to what
seemed like a good suggestion at the time, my daughter-in-law
or someone at the office set up a Facebook page for me. Although
it is said that you can’t have too many friends, I am
beginning to doubt the wisdom of that statement.
Some weeks, I hardly have time to maintain meaningful relationships
with a few, longtime, treasured friends, and I am receiving
requests to become a Facebook friend with someone whose
name I barely recognize. I know many people adore Facebook
(at last count there are more than 150 million members)
and also find it an excellent social and business networking
tool.
I just can’t figure out where they find the time
and energy to keep up with a constantly growing circle of
new friends as well as discovering all the old friends they
had lost track of. Aren’t we confusing quantity over
quality; like holding a popularity contest to see who has
the most new friends?
Additionally, assuming an entire social circle is the least
bit interested in what was eaten for breakfast or other
mundane activities appeals to our sense of self-importance.
Perhaps these columns manage to satisfy my own egotism,
but I would hope they offer a little more food for thought
than a typical Facebook message.
Facebook and Twitter have both been used by teenagers to
spread false rumors and seriously hurt other students. While
students have always bullied and hurt others, new technology
makes it possible to be vicious on a much larger scale.
There is however, an even more important consideration
not only about Facebook, but also about the many new products
constantly flooding the market and how, without our being
at all aware, they are insidiously invading our privacy.
Advertisers are using Facebook to target their ads to those
they have learned have a particular interest in their product
or services. You might, for instance, mention you are taking
a trip. Within seconds, new technology will allow an advertiser
to send a pop-up ad on other travel destinations or resorts
in the area you are planning to visit.
Not just your travel plans, but your age, marital status,
college education and a host of other details are out there
for all to see. Stores are tracking shoppers’ buying
patterns on hidden video cameras. What display caught your
interest? Where did you stop and for how long? What induces
you to buy? Tracers on our cell phones, train, bus and subway
cards that we swipe, all leave minute-by-minute records
of our comings and goings.
Spending habits and credit scores are tracked on our ATM
machines and whenever we use our credit cards. Security
cameras hover unseen in gas stations and convenience marts.
The same satellite monitoring that created the GPS and the
directional voice of my friend Dennis, can also track my
every move.
And now our emotional responses are being taped and analyzed
in order to induce us to buy. Aren’t we already manipulated
enough by the corporate world via the media to buy more,
buy more expensive, look and act younger, and oh, yes, gain
more friends? I rest my case.
Please know, however, that I am delighted to hear from
readers with comments or questions just so long as they
come via e-mail, my local postman, stagecoach or carrier
pigeon. But no Facebook. Thanks all the same.
Jean Cherni is founder of Senior
Living Solutions, a retirement advisory service. Contact
her at jeancherni@sbcglobal.net or 15 The Ponds, Branford
06405.
H. Pearce Company REALTORS®
is a full-service real estate company with more than 100
agents and branch offices in greater New Haven and the Shoreline.
Corporate and & Commercial offices are located in North
Haven, where the company was founded in 1958. All listings
can be found in color on the web at: www.hpearce.com. |
