Is this OK? It's certainly not healthy but just ask any girl around you if she's ever stalked someone via Facebook and good odds are that she'll sheepishly admit to it.
I've done it, I'll admit it. It doesn't even have to be a boy that you stalk, it can be a girl as well- a different motivation to be sure (jealousy, anger etc) but you still sit on their page, watching their every action. Before Facebook, it was myspace stalking and before that, it was Friendster stalking. There's something about having that anonymity online, the voyeuristic quality of watching and observing without being judged.
Why do we do it? There's a variety of reasons I guess, a want of information on a person (perhaps to enable you ingratiating yourself into their life a bit more?) or a desire to compare (that old high school bully that has turned go-go dancer or night shift manager at McDonald's) or maybe it's more positive in that you haven't caught up for ages and want to see how their life is going. Facebook has allowed so much more information to pass that there should be a caution about how much of our lives that we're willing to share. Forgive the crudeness of the metaphor but aren't we pimping our lives out that much more since the advent of social networking sites? Facebook has lost people their jobs based on the information that people place online for all and sundry to see.
It's a trial and error thing I've concluded. I've made mistakes in the past- placed info online that perhaps I shouldn't have but now I know better. Friends Only my albums, Limit Profile the people I don't really talk to or know that well, check myself on how much "me" diarhhea I spew on my Info page and untag less than edifying shots that occur of me (we all make mistakes that get caught on camera, doesn't mean that my colleague or a prospective employer who knows my friend can see it). Note I didn't say less than glamorous or bad photo of me- people who untag EVERY photo of themselves are being a bit too anal in my opinion.
But yes, back to stalking. Where's the line? Just because you don't do it in real life doesn't make it alright. I'd feel bloody uncomfortable if I found out that someone had been sitting on my page watching my every move.
Why do we do it? There's a variety of reasons I guess, a want of information on a person (perhaps to enable you ingratiating yourself into their life a bit more?) or a desire to compare (that old high school bully that has turned go-go dancer or night shift manager at McDonald's) or maybe it's more positive in that you haven't caught up for ages and want to see how their life is going. Facebook has allowed so much more information to pass that there should be a caution about how much of our lives that we're willing to share. Forgive the crudeness of the metaphor but aren't we pimping our lives out that much more since the advent of social networking sites? Facebook has lost people their jobs based on the information that people place online for all and sundry to see.
It's a trial and error thing I've concluded. I've made mistakes in the past- placed info online that perhaps I shouldn't have but now I know better. Friends Only my albums, Limit Profile the people I don't really talk to or know that well, check myself on how much "me" diarhhea I spew on my Info page and untag less than edifying shots that occur of me (we all make mistakes that get caught on camera, doesn't mean that my colleague or a prospective employer who knows my friend can see it). Note I didn't say less than glamorous or bad photo of me- people who untag EVERY photo of themselves are being a bit too anal in my opinion.
But yes, back to stalking. Where's the line? Just because you don't do it in real life doesn't make it alright. I'd feel bloody uncomfortable if I found out that someone had been sitting on my page watching my every move.
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1 comments:
if u publish every detail of your life on facebook then you have no right to feel like your privacy is being intruded upon. thats like doing the pool palace in the middle of town and telling onlookers to mind their own business...
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